Looking Forward
Cast A Shadow Snowshoe Race 2007
It's May. The sun is shining. The first race of the year is behind us, and that means one thing. It's camp time again. Weekend at Placid to be exact.
The Weekend at Placid originated way back in 2003 and we've been going every year since. The name comes from that movie … remember "Weekend at Bernie's?" that's where the name came from.
It was 2003 and my friends and I were doing the Tour of the Ohio Valley Southern River (TOSRV). It was a 200 mile ride. 100 miles from Columbus to Portsmouth Ohio…..sleep overnight on a gym floor and then ride 100 miles back. The weather was warm but hell it was rainy. And windy.
At one point Kara screamed out that there were tornadoes and we believed her. Until we realized they were smokestacks.
My dear friend Ellie Hershberg was in her residency at the time. At the same hospital I am a nurse at. In fact many nights we worked together, and rode long after 2 hours of sleep.
On this ride we reminisced about old movies. Weekend at Bernie's was a favorite of the group.
You know how when you are riding 200 miles, a little tired, depleted… you know how things are really, really funny? Things you'd snort at if you were in your normal life?
Well I had the brainchild idea to call the weekend we'd soon be spending in Lake Placid…. Weekend at Placid…… and we'd all be the dead guy. At the time… I swear…. every single person was rolling around on a gym floor laughing.
Uh…. yeah…. so that's how the name came about. We've been heading up to Placid ever since.
For me Lake Placid is a place that is all about wellness. Goodness and wellness. A town where not so many people are walking around on their Black Berries. Where people are spending time together. Where there are road signs that signify cyclists on the roads and please drivers… please respect them.
This is the place where the Olympic hopefuls train. The skiers. The Luger's. The skaters. Everyone. There are kids, there are teenagers and there are adults following their athletic hearts. Following their dreams.
And we are no different.
The mountains are beautiful; the course we ride is lined with rivers. The trees are greener than anywhere else. We get to spend three days with each other, training, laughing and learning a lot about ourselves.
The Weekend at Placid originated way back in 2003 and we've been going every year since. The name comes from that movie … remember "Weekend at Bernie's?" that's where the name came from.
It was 2003 and my friends and I were doing the Tour of the Ohio Valley Southern River (TOSRV). It was a 200 mile ride. 100 miles from Columbus to Portsmouth Ohio…..sleep overnight on a gym floor and then ride 100 miles back. The weather was warm but hell it was rainy. And windy.
At one point Kara screamed out that there were tornadoes and we believed her. Until we realized they were smokestacks.
My dear friend Ellie Hershberg was in her residency at the time. At the same hospital I am a nurse at. In fact many nights we worked together, and rode long after 2 hours of sleep.
On this ride we reminisced about old movies. Weekend at Bernie's was a favorite of the group.
You know how when you are riding 200 miles, a little tired, depleted… you know how things are really, really funny? Things you'd snort at if you were in your normal life?
Well I had the brainchild idea to call the weekend we'd soon be spending in Lake Placid…. Weekend at Placid…… and we'd all be the dead guy. At the time… I swear…. every single person was rolling around on a gym floor laughing.
Uh…. yeah…. so that's how the name came about. We've been heading up to Placid ever since.
For me Lake Placid is a place that is all about wellness. Goodness and wellness. A town where not so many people are walking around on their Black Berries. Where people are spending time together. Where there are road signs that signify cyclists on the roads and please drivers… please respect them.
This is the place where the Olympic hopefuls train. The skiers. The Luger's. The skaters. Everyone. There are kids, there are teenagers and there are adults following their athletic hearts. Following their dreams.
And we are no different.
The mountains are beautiful; the course we ride is lined with rivers. The trees are greener than anywhere else. We get to spend three days with each other, training, laughing and learning a lot about ourselves.
The lessons that need to be learned are not in any training manual, or any piece of advice that I can give. Things happen when you go to a camp. Things come up when you ride long, pieces of you start to surface. Some that you like and some that you don't. Maybe patience or pack thereof starts to bubble up. In the middle of 112 miles when no one is around to pick you up.... you learn to deal with it. You learn to be patient.
If nutrition starts to fail than you learn how to fix it.
If your pedal comes loose and you have no tools.... you figure it out.
These are the lessons that as a coach I have to let my athletes learn. These are the lessons I can't necessarily teach. Walking through the fire, flying down the 10K hill.... I can talk until I am blue int he face about it. But when you experience it you learn it.
Then I get to see the excitement in your eyes, and the thrill in your voice when you tell me just exactly what you repaired with duct tape. And how during the Ironman you know what you will do if.....
I have the best job in the world. I know the ending of the story. I know this team has put in it's work. I know this team is close knit. I know this team is family.
So as we are traversing the mountains of Placid next weekend, learning all we can about ourselves..... our thoughts will be with one of our own. She's traveling to Brazil for her first Ironman. Tomorrow night I help her pack up her bike. Tuesday she's off on a long journey and the next time I will see her, I will call her an Ironman.
Now that's what this is about.
1 comment:
HAVE so much fun... you and the HTFU gals and this camp... what a social butterfly! Probably a good thing since you seem to have such a positive effect on others...
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