Tuesday, September 5 (Five days to go.)
Then I got the anti-doping letter.
(You don’t dope, do you?)
Nope, so I wasn’t worried until…
(Here it comes. Those three dots that will make us wait until next week.)
I saw cortisone on the banned substance list.
(But you don’t take performance enhancing drugs.)
But I was applying cortisone cream for eczema and doing the twice monthly injections.
(How bad were the injections?)
I got used to it.
(That bad?)
Now all I could think was I was traveling all this way, spending all this money and if I got picked for random blood sampling, I was going to be banned from racing.
I started to do the math in my head again.
(Because that has always worked well for you.)
“If I stopped all medication this morning, would it still show up in my blood work seven days from now?”
(Probably not.)
Now I had to worry about failing a random doping test after I arrive in Nice, France … next week.
(And there goes David’s sleep for another night.)
I called a friend of mine…
(You what?)
You are right. I messaged him … like the kids do. His response was,
“If you get drug tested, play the lottery too.”
(Huh?)
The Ironman officials are not conducting random drug tests on amateur athletes. I was worried for nothing.
(Again.)
Exactly. On to the next crisis.
(Isn’t your whole life a series of crises?)
No, it just appears so from the way I tell a story. Years ago, I realized that my week was my going from one “problem” to another.
(So, you decided to get off the “merry-go-round?”)
No, I kinda like the challenge but the people around me…
(Your wife n’ kids?)
Basically. They don’t enjoy living in the center of a storm, so I changed the way I live.
(Why are you telling me this?)
You asked.
(No, why are you taking this narrative down this path?)
There is more to a triathlon than just walking up to the start line.
(Yes, we know, training.)
No.
(No training?)
Yes to training, but there’s more to it than that.
(Did you just write a sentence full of improper nouns?)
Technically, I typed it, but yes, I did. The logistical nightmare of trying to get all the pieces to fit when it’s your life is tricky, but when it’s you, your wife, your kids and everyone else who is connected to the four of you is multiplied by exponents.
I had been so focused on getting permission from my public-school job that I assumed it would be simple to just “take my kids out of school.”
My eldest, Eric was just starting his freshman year at YU and he confused his teachers when he attempted to explains:
- What is a triathlon?
- Why was it a big deal that his father was traveling to Nice, France?
- Why did Eric need to be there with me?
After a few back and fourths on email we got that sorted. Stevie was in the fifth grade so that was easier.
(Because he was in the fifth grade?)
No, because 18-year-old Eric is going to be a computer programmer, 11-year-old Stevie is going to be a litigator. Stevie was his own pr firm.
We arranged for our neighbor to come into the house every day and feed the fish.
(Just how many fish do you have?)
Three tanks worth.
(You might have an addiction to buying fish.)
Nah, I can stop any time.
(So, you were all set to leave for France?)
Nope. I still had to make a week’s worth of lessons for students I had only met that first week.
I had never made sub plans for materials the students were first learning about. It was a completely new challenge for me.
(Couldn’t you just Xerox worksheets?)
Who says Xerox in 2024?
(Answer the question.)
No, I couldn’t just make copies of worksheets. I had to create activities.
(So?)
I had to balance packing and shopping for a trip with disrupting my back-to-school routines.
(What were you saying about not living like everything is a crisis?)
No, no, this was controlled chaos.
(How did you keep track of all that you were doing?)
Check lists. Lots of checklists.
(Where did that leave you?)
Ready to leave for the airport … after one last “crisis.”
David Roher is a USAT certified triathlon and marathon coach. He is a multi-Ironman finisher and veteran special education teacher. He is on Instagram @David Roher140.6. He can be reached at [email protected].
