Coming out of Hiding

Hey Everybody!
I just wanted to let you know that I was a juror on a high profile criminal case all summer and I was sequestered. I was banned from communicating with the outside world.
Really...
really.

So today is Jonathan's birthday and I plan on posting about that, but before that happened I had to write about this. This was worth coming out of seclusion for.

Last spring, when the weather was warm, Everette and I got our bikes out and started riding them. And decided that we actually liked it. Everette and I move at different paces, both physically and mentally. Everette is full speed on everything, and I am more like the three-toed sloth. So we have difficulty finding activities, other than sitting on our butts watching television, that we enjoy doing together. But as it turns out, strapping forty pounds plus to the back of Everette's bike (read: Jonathan) adds enough drag for my slow lazy butt to keep up. SO we spent the summer scouting different bike paths around the state and braving the county roads near our house.
This got Everette thinking... thinking he might like to do... a triathlon.
A what?
I know. crazy right.
So he did some research, and found out Mississinewa state park does a sprint triathalon in early September. He debated, but eventually signed up.

He spent the summer training.
Here are some highlights from his training.
1. He decided going on a 25 mile bike ride with an impending hailstorm in the dark, was a good idea. As it turns out, it was not. I came home at 8:30PM to find him sprawled out on the bed, unable to move. He almost died, from stupidity.

2. In an effort to train his body to perform well in any circumstance, he regularly went out to run or ride in the blistering, sweltering, scorching, disgusting heat of the day. I mean off the charts heat (remember July, people). He would come back and collapse into a sweaty heap on the floor. He almost died, from stupidity.

3.My job was to funnel iced blue Gatorade down his gullet while he laid there until he recovered. He repaid me in hugs. Full-contact, stinky, sweaty, body hugs; requiring a complete change of clothing. Jonathan,and Everette both thought this was hilarious. Everette almost died, from stupidity.

4. Whenever possible, Jonathan was his running companion, which meant he rode in the jogger sipping juice boxes, yelling, "faster! faster! Daddy!"

5. We saved a lot of money on hot water, as there were a lot of cold showers this summer.

6. Everette dropped 30+ pounds and what we saved in water, we made spent on new clothes. But it is worth it, because he is seriously looking sexy.

Two weekends ago, was the big day.
We packed up a crapload of camping gear and headed to Peru for an overnight campout. We set up the camper and two seconds later, the heavens opened and the left over tropical storms dumped buckets on us, as we tried to remember how to set up the awning. Everette sacked out early, and I stayed up stupidly late, reading a book and relishing the quiet.
We woke early, and made breakfast, anxious to see what the day would bring.
The afternoon before as we drove the bike route, I told Everette he had two additional goals to add to his one, of finishing under 2 hours.
They were: 1. do not die. 2. do not get injured.
To which he replied, "what do you mean, injured?"
I said, "I don't care if you are sore, I mean, not requiring medical attention."
His response: "Ok, I will not seek medical attention."
I said, "not funny."

at early o'clock in the morning, Everette went to the transition area, and set up all his gear. I followed with Jonathan, and then proceeded to stand around nervously for the next hour.

Meanwhile his parents and my mom showed up.

at 8:30 the race started, in the lake, it was chilly outside.

This is Everette's sexy anklet, it tracked his time, that way if he didn't come out of the water in an hour they would go in looking for him.

The wrote his number on his arm and leg (125) in sharpie, but on his calf, they wrote his age. We aren't sure why, but I am guessing it has to do with medical treatment, in the event you should collapse. Everette is 30!!!!

A lovely silhouette Everette's new hot bod!

Right before the gun. Everette is right next to that giant red ball!

Everette was in the fourth wave. so at 8:38 the gun went off and he started swimming. 11 minutes later he emerged onto the shore in 48th place. Not bad.

He trudged up the hill barefooted and soaking wet to the transition area to pull on socks, shoes, and jersey and other bike gear.

After a 16 mile bike ride he arrived back to dismount and change shoes.
Thus beginning the end.
Many of you know that Everette is a pretty decent swimmer. The dude looks like he would sink to the bottom, but he has some serious power in the water. Like he currently holds the backstroke record at Harrison High School. So we weren't too worried about the 500 M swim.
And since Everette had repeatedly trained 25+ miles on his bike, we were pretty certain he could accomplish that portion.
This left the running. There is something about the way God designed Everette's body that is contrary to running. When Everette starts running, his body kicks on his internal furnace full blast. The dude, get's hot. More than once he started out on a run, and only made it a few miles because, is body just crapped out, and he stopped sweating and overheated and occasionally puked.
And while he managed to accomplish the distance required during training, his time was slow, and environmental factors were extremely influential.
So this was the nail-biting portion.

We (my family and I) positioned ourselves near the finish line to wait.
Knowing Everette ran about a 9 and half minute mile I rounded to 10 and did some mental calculations (not my forte). I watched and I waited. I was pretty confident Everette would be ok, because he trained well, and it was a pretty cool day. Low to mid 70's. Not like the 105 heat index he trained in.
But still, I had images of him lying in some bushes passed out awaiting medical attention.
But right on time I saw his bearded face, round the corner. He made it.

This is as good of a finish line shot as I was willing to risk. I didn't want to miss him crossing trying to take a picture.

His official time was one hour forty-five minutes fifty-nine seconds. And he placed 147 out of 241. Not bad I say. Sixth out of 18 in his division. Mission accomplished.
And what is more, he looked and felt good. I mean, I saw some people cross the finish line, and they did NOT look good. Not at all. Not even one little bit.

Everette post-race. Still standing!

To show him just how proud I was, I gave him a full body contact hug, even though I didn't have a change of clothes. And I didn't even mind.

Everette trudging back to the parking lot to load up all the crap.

Just to show you really how good he was feeling, after a nap, we packed up the camper, headed home, unloaded the camper, and Sunday we took our bikes to Prophetstown for a bike ride and a picnic.