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June 29, 2007
Clarity
I don't even know where to begin.
Suffice it to say, this trip hasn't been easy so far. And I think it's also safe to say that the Philadelphia Airport may very well be the root of all evil. At this point I don't have time to go into all the details, nor would you probably want to read them.
But the short story is that while we made it to Portland (albeit at 5 am in the morning on Thursday instead of the 11 pm Wednesday night that we were supposed to get in), our baggage did not. Nor did my bike. No clothes, no shoes, no deoderant, no clean underwear, no helmet, no wetsuit, no bike. Did I mention no bike? Yes, that's right - my $4000 bike was lost somewhere in luggage land, likely in the Philly Airport. Not a comforting feeling.
While very disheartened I remained pretty upbeat about the whole thing through most of yesterday. We got to the hotel and caught up on some sleep. We took showers and even though we had to put back on the same dirty clothes, we felt better. We went out to the course and checked out what race day would bring. We ate a nice dinner near Portland.
But then somewhere around 7 or 8 last night when our baggage still hadn't arrived and we watched flight after flight come in WITHOUT our luggage in tow, I started to lose heart. We had driven out to the airport because there was a flight from Phoenix that the US Airways people were relatively certain our stuff would be on. We wanted to be there to just pick it up ourselves. But when it wasn't on that flight. And then it wasn't on the next and they told us the next possibility was a flight landing at 1:30 am this morning, I finally couldn't take it anymore.
Terribly discouraged, leaving the airport empty-handed again, headed to Target to at least get some clean underwear and a new t-shirt, I couldn't hold back my tears anymore. Because for the first time I let myself consider the fact that I may not get to race afterall. After flying the whole way across the country I still wasn't going to make it to the starting line.
And I think it went beyond that for me. The stress and frustration of the whole past month finally became too much to bear. Of getting hit by the truck, of dealing with the pain in my hip and in my ribs and many sleepless nights, dealing with lawyers and insurance companies, missing my huge A race at Eagleman, wondering how financially this was all going to work out, going to all the chiropractor appointments, pushing myself back into training, the stress of trying to decide if coming out to Portland was even a possibility let alone a good idea. And now here I was, getting through all that and I didn't have a bike or even a pair of running shoes. And I wasn't going to get to race afterall.
As we drove along in silence O (who was dealing with his own set of frustrations - afterall, this is quite possibly the worst case scenario for an equipment manager!) told me that while he wasn't sure what was going to happen this weekend, he did know that this was going to make a great story. Down the road (perhaps WAY down the road...:) we'd be able to tell about the adversity of this season thus far and how overcoming it had made a stronger, more determined athlete. Heck, we might even laugh about it.
And I think he's right. Because when someone performs well when everything goes right, well that's a very good story. But an even better story is when someone performs well when everything goes wrong. Terribly wrong. And let me tell you, I'm working on a pretty awesome story right now.
The good news is, at 6:30 am this morning (Friday) a fight landed in the Portland airport with not only my bike, but our 2 suitcases as well. O is on his way back from the airport with all 3 in tow as I type.
And while I have absolutely no idea what's going to happen tomorrow morning at 8:12 am when I dive into that cold, clear Lake Hagg I do know that if I swim, ride and run out all the anger and frustration and stress of the past couple weeks I may very well set some sort of record. :) And if I compete with the determination that it's taken to get through the past month, an amazing story it will make. Because despite all the interference and all the obstacles, my goals have never seemed so clear.
Posted by beth at June 29, 2007 11:37 AM
Comments
Beth&O, i sorta knew everything was likely ok when I read: "...afterall, this is quite possibly the worst case scenario for an equipment manager!" It just cracked me up to think of you thinking of O in his management role :-)... and what must be his amazing Patience! ... as chilling is your clarity of mind... go Beth, GO!
Posted by: corrado giambalvo at June 29, 2007 12:54 PM
I'm glad to hear everything got to Portland, Beth. I think O's exactly right. You are working on an awesome story.
Re: the issues with your bike, I've read on other triathlete blogs that some actually ship their bikes to races rather than deal with the airlines. If you just lost the suitcases you could get new clothes, but you're not going to buy a new bike.
Posted by: brian at June 29, 2007 1:49 PM
Hang in there. I can't believe that you've managed to stay upbeat with everything that has gone wrong this past month. It was probably good for you to have a good cry and let loose of some of that tension. Don't be ashamed of that.
But O is right -- you have to deal with the hand of cards that you're dealt. You can choose to fold or you can choose to play -- but the only way that you're going to win is to play. (And no, I wasn't thinking of Kenny Rogers when I wrote that... "you got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em..."). As long as I've known you, you have always done the best you could with what you had. I know that you can do it again.
And Philly airport *is* the root of all evil. When I was traveling a lot for work, I used to fly into Newark and *drive* to Philly rather than fly into Philly. It's sad when you have more faith in Newark airport than Philly.
Posted by: B at June 29, 2007 2:31 PM
Sorry it's been a frustrating travel experience so far!
It vaguely reminds me of the frustration and helplessness I felt when I arrived in Nairobi, Kenya late one night with no luggage. The luggage didn't arrive for several days, so there I was in the strange world with nothing but the clothes on my back!
Best of luck this weekend! Swim, ride, run hard!
Meghan
Posted by: Meghan at June 29, 2007 2:33 PM
Good luck Beth. You are going to do awesome. And you have O there for support and to cheer you on!Have fun and enjoy the experience. You have overcome a lot and worked very hard to get there!
Posted by: Dawn at June 29, 2007 4:18 PM
Good luck Beth. You are going to do awesome. And you have O there for support and to cheer you on!Have fun and enjoy the experience. You have overcome a lot and worked very hard to get there!
Posted by: Dawn at June 29, 2007 4:19 PM
p.s. I guess your blog title fits you to a "t"!
Posted by: Dawn at June 29, 2007 5:54 PM
All we can say is adversity is a character builder; both you and O have plenty of character! Best of luck tomorrow, but we all know it will be your hard work that will get you through this. We have faith in both of you. Love M and D.
Posted by: Nadine at June 29, 2007 9:17 PM