medication that allows

this weekend i had the good fortune of being part of the pensacola marathon. now, i'm not a runner. in fact, i am so not a runner that i could almost say that i hate running. almost.

late last week i was asked to help be part of the support team for the hand cyclists and wheelchair bound participants of the marathon. being that i am always down for a ride i happily agreed to show up.

saturday night i had been checking the weather reports and there had been a large amount of storms proposed for sunday morning. and on sunday when i rolled out the front door it appeared that the weatherfolk were pretty much on point. it was very cloudy and overcast with an extreme reddish orange tint. oh, and the wind. the wind was moving pretty well too. regardless of all that, the downpour seemed to be holding off for a bit.

what went on the rest of the day is sort of hard for me to sum up. every time i type something out it just doesn't do it justice. seriously, this is about the fifth time i've retyped this post.

basically this is it:

-the weather held off.
-i rode with two competitors in wheelchairs.
-they grunted up the hills and flew down the other sides.
-they had small technical difficulties that built up over the entire marathon.
-both had a common saying ("no worries, man")
-i tried finding some tape for them (one for a glove and the other for the rubber on his push rim*?*). i found some, but it wasn't a type that was usable. turned around to find the car i got it from but couldn't find them. rode around trying to find my competitors again. during this time they managed to put about two miles between us.
-they finished the marathon.

these are the facts. i could go into more detail about each one, but i don't feel i could do either competitor or the experience that i had justice. it was quite possibly one of the best experiences i have ever had on a bike and i am looking forward to doing it again in the future. i hope i get the same competitors too as those guys ruled. i hope they didn't mind my going back and forth and cheesy motivational attempts and that they had as good of a time as i did.