What made me do this?
I've seen the LT100 in person two times to support my
younger brother, a Leadville CO resident who has finished the race 5 times and also to support some
friends who were chosen to race in 2013. Each time I left there I was amazed by
what I saw (Wounded Warriors, amputees, a severely diabetic woman
checking her blood sugar at a feeding station, a blind man riding on a tandem
bike for 2) and how those people pushed their bodies way beyond their limits on
that race course. And each time I thought "that's to much for me, to long, to steep,
to hard, twice as far as I ever ridden a mountain bike, etc., etc." But like clockwork every year for
the last 5 years my brother would say to me, "you gotta do it, you gotta
try, it's the hardest thing you will ever do in your life and you will love it" And every year I
wanted to try but didn't think I had it in me..until this year.
It was scenes like this that made me realize what we can do if we want it bad enough
Checking her blood sugar 40 miles into the race
The bike ride that changed it all
My 14 year old son Riley has CMT also, he's had very painful corrective surgery on each of his feet over the past 2 years to help alleviate the pain he has from extremely high arches and claw toes, but through it all he played football, first for the local rec team, then his Middle School team and then last year for the 9th grade High School team. He would come home from the long summer practices and football camps and his first words were "my feet are killing me!' but he kept playing, and started all but one game last year despite his problems. During the off season this year he told me and his Mom, "I don't want to play anymore, it hurts to bad and I'm too slow, I just can't do it". Hearing this broke my heart, but I knew exactly what he was going through and there was nothing I could do about it or anything I could say to him that could "fix" it. Several weeks after his decision I was on a bike ride like I had done a thousand times on a road near my home I had ridden a thousand times and I was feeling good. Sometimes when you ride it just isn't happening, you don't feel it, you just want it to be over, but sometimes you feel like you could ride for days. This was one of those great days, I was thinking "I could do this all day" and it hit me, why don't I see if I really can do this all day? Then a little doubt started to creep into my head, "it's to long, to steep, you don't have the legs for it, etc., etc..." But I decided then and there I was going to do this, I was going to do this to show myself I could do it,I was going to show everyone else that has CMT that if I can do this you can do this, I was going to show everyone that has ever stared at me when I'm in a pair of shorts that I could do this (sorry if it sounds like I'm angry in saying that but I can see your stares people, you need to learn to be more discreet!) and I wanted to show my son that he can do this, or things like this, sometimes we just have to work a little harder than most to get what we want and the harder you work at something the greater the feeling you have when it's over.
Telling people my "secret"
Part of the application process for the race is sharing a story about yourself that makes you a little different than the rest, or what makes you stand out from the countless thousands that have also applied. When I saw that I thought "do I mention the CMT, do I want someone within the race organization committee to key in on this and make a big deal out of it?" because up until that point I've not been very vocal about my CMT at all only my closest friends, riding buddies and family knew about it. I have never mentioned it to anyone at work my entire adult life, casual acquaintances, neighbors, or the like knew nothing about it but I'm sure they thought "why is he wearing pants to a pool party, it is 97* out here ?!" I just shiver at the thought of how uncomfortable it would make us both feel, "oh, hey by the way have you ever heard of CMT? No, well I have it", no thanks! But I figured if I'm going to do this, do it all the way so I decided to share my CMT story on my race application and even decided that I was going to somehow use this as a platform to both raise awareness to others about CMT and to also show other CMTers that even though we may have the deck stacked against us in many facets of our lives and that all sorts of things others take for granted we have to really struggle for and that we all have it in us to do what you once thought was beyond your limits whether it is something as crazy as what I'm trying to do or taking a water aerobics or yoga class or just opening a jar of peanut butter!
My training started last month and is going well and I will keep this blog updated with training notes, how my body is changing for the better or worse as my training progresses as well as any CMT related issues that may or may not flare up in the next 5 months. Also, I will let you know how those awkward CMT conversations go with the neighbors and the mailman!
I've seen the LT100 in person two times to support my younger brother, a Leadville CO resident who has finished the race 5 times and also to support some friends who were chosen to race in 2013. Each time I left there I was amazed by what I saw (Wounded Warriors, amputees, a severely diabetic woman checking her blood sugar at a feeding station, a blind man riding on a tandem bike for 2) and how those people pushed their bodies way beyond their limits on that race course. And each time I thought "that's to much for me, to long, to steep, to hard, twice as far as I ever ridden a mountain bike, etc., etc." But like clockwork every year for the last 5 years my brother would say to me, "you gotta do it, you gotta try, it's the hardest thing you will ever do in your life and you will love it" And every year I wanted to try but didn't think I had it in me..until this year.
|
| It was scenes like this that made me realize what we can do if we want it bad enough |
|
| Checking her blood sugar 40 miles into the race |
The bike ride that changed it all
My 14 year old son Riley has CMT also, he's had very painful corrective surgery on each of his feet over the past 2 years to help alleviate the pain he has from extremely high arches and claw toes, but through it all he played football, first for the local rec team, then his Middle School team and then last year for the 9th grade High School team. He would come home from the long summer practices and football camps and his first words were "my feet are killing me!' but he kept playing, and started all but one game last year despite his problems. During the off season this year he told me and his Mom, "I don't want to play anymore, it hurts to bad and I'm too slow, I just can't do it". Hearing this broke my heart, but I knew exactly what he was going through and there was nothing I could do about it or anything I could say to him that could "fix" it. Several weeks after his decision I was on a bike ride like I had done a thousand times on a road near my home I had ridden a thousand times and I was feeling good. Sometimes when you ride it just isn't happening, you don't feel it, you just want it to be over, but sometimes you feel like you could ride for days. This was one of those great days, I was thinking "I could do this all day" and it hit me, why don't I see if I really can do this all day? Then a little doubt started to creep into my head, "it's to long, to steep, you don't have the legs for it, etc., etc..." But I decided then and there I was going to do this, I was going to do this to show myself I could do it,I was going to show everyone else that has CMT that if I can do this you can do this, I was going to show everyone that has ever stared at me when I'm in a pair of shorts that I could do this (sorry if it sounds like I'm angry in saying that but I can see your stares people, you need to learn to be more discreet!) and I wanted to show my son that he can do this, or things like this, sometimes we just have to work a little harder than most to get what we want and the harder you work at something the greater the feeling you have when it's over.
Telling people my "secret"
Part of the application process for the race is sharing a story about yourself that makes you a little different than the rest, or what makes you stand out from the countless thousands that have also applied. When I saw that I thought "do I mention the CMT, do I want someone within the race organization committee to key in on this and make a big deal out of it?" because up until that point I've not been very vocal about my CMT at all only my closest friends, riding buddies and family knew about it. I have never mentioned it to anyone at work my entire adult life, casual acquaintances, neighbors, or the like knew nothing about it but I'm sure they thought "why is he wearing pants to a pool party, it is 97* out here ?!" I just shiver at the thought of how uncomfortable it would make us both feel, "oh, hey by the way have you ever heard of CMT? No, well I have it", no thanks! But I figured if I'm going to do this, do it all the way so I decided to share my CMT story on my race application and even decided that I was going to somehow use this as a platform to both raise awareness to others about CMT and to also show other CMTers that even though we may have the deck stacked against us in many facets of our lives and that all sorts of things others take for granted we have to really struggle for and that we all have it in us to do what you once thought was beyond your limits whether it is something as crazy as what I'm trying to do or taking a water aerobics or yoga class or just opening a jar of peanut butter!
My training started last month and is going well and I will keep this blog updated with training notes, how my body is changing for the better or worse as my training progresses as well as any CMT related issues that may or may not flare up in the next 5 months. Also, I will let you know how those awkward CMT conversations go with the neighbors and the mailman!
No comments:
Post a Comment