Here's the story ....

Every once in a while something happens in one’s life that reinforces your beliefs and you just have to tell the world about it. I had a moment like that just recently. It wasn’t a life altering moment, by no means, but it was a moment that I shall treasure forever. It’s a story of simplicity and heart. It’s a story of perseverance and pride. It’s a story of that moment in my life that I fully realized anything is possible as long as you have heart … (spirit ... to follow my older blogs, yes heart is the word). I’m more than happy to tell y’all about it.

I’ve often told people that it’s all about heart and believing. The two, in my opinion, go hand in hand. I’ve often said that if you believe, anything is possible. You can do anything with your life and you can achieve anything. All you need to do is believe. I’ve been parroting those words to any and all for a number of years now. A small confession, my husband was the first to parrot those words back to me regarding skating.

J and I are alike in many ways yet unlike in so many others. We’ve often said we’re so opposite yet so alike it works. He’s the laid-back, calm, stoic, don’t worry type of person and as for me I’m the bouncing off the walls, in your face, hyper person. When it comes to skating, he just goes out and skates and doesn’t worry about placement, or speed. He just skates. Me, since I’ve decided to up my skating a bit I’m constantly looking at times, worrying about my speed, worrying about my workouts and I’m certain driving him crazy with all my worry. Two different personalities, but this skating season equally good results. We both had our best finishing times and placements at the events we entered. It was a good year. And J’s result on Saturday at the Defi was the absolute icing on the cake for both of us. You see, the Defi is the event that he will always skate no matter what. It is his favourite. It is his event. Mine is Duluth.

In his typical laid-back manner J has never concerned himself with the type of skates he uses, the type of wheels or even the bearings. He will and has always skated on whatever was available. He’s often said he’ll skate on anything. He just doesn’t care. And he’s often said it’s not the equipment, it’s the heart! All summer he skated and raced on his K2 Radical 90’s with a 100 mm frame and old 100mm hand-me-down wheels. The only exception was Duluth and I talked him into using my brand new 100mm Matter Naturals. I’m sure he only used them because I bugged him so much. In Duluth he reached the podium and had a time of 1:17:00 or so. As he was packing for the Defi I again bugged him until he agreed to once again use my Matters.

Now to the story … on Saturday morning before he left the hotel room at 4:55, we discussed what time I should get myself to the finish line. He thought that 11:30 would be soon enough because he didn’t think he’d finish in under 5:30:00. He also pointed out that he wouldn’t be in the lead pack because “those guys are just way faster than I am”. I believed him because who better than one’s self knows their own capabilities. But, I decided to get there earlier because I wanted to see the first place finisher. So I took a cab at 10:50 and arrived at the Verdun arena at approx 11:05 or so. I quickly tracked down the race officials and based on what information they had from the checkpoints they didn’t foresee anyone coming in much before 11:45. So I had what I thought would be a long wait in the cold. Did I mention how freaking cold it was. Even at 11:00 I think the temperature was maybe 3C or 36F and it was windy. But at least the sun was shining. Another person soon joined me at the finish line and she was waiting for Mike G to come in. He was part of the lead pack at the last checkpoint at 10:15 and with approx 30 kms to go to the finish she was calculating 11:30 or later. The time now was 11:15. So we chatted and waited thinking we had plenty of time.

Suddenly on the horizon we see 4 skaters coming toward us holding hands and all I saw was the yellow jersey J was wearing. He was in the lead pack. My heart dropped into my stomach, my eyes watered up and at the moment all I could think was … "there he is, my guy with the heart ... he is going to be one of the winners of this ... his event." And he was, in his beat up rec skates on borrowed wheels, the guy that always said it's all about heart. His finishing time was 5:22:00. I have never been prouder.

Since I used a “word” for this blog, I’ll add a tune as well and some of the words funnily enough or not seem quite apropos to me … Brandi Carlile “The Story” (here are the lyrics as well)

All of these lines across my face
Tell you the story of who I am
So many stories of where I've been
And how I got to where I am
But these stories don't mean anything
When you've got no one to tell them to
It's true...I was made for you

I climbed across the mountain tops
Swam all across the ocean blue
I crossed all the lines and I broke all the rules
But baby I broke them all for you
Because even when I was flat broke
You made me feel like a million bucks
You do ... I was made for you

You see the smile that's on my mouth
It's hiding the words that don't come out
And all of my friends who think that I'm blessed
They don't know my head is a mess
No, they don't know who I really am
And they don't know what
I've been through like you do
And I was made for you...

All of these lines across my face
Tell you the story of who I am
So many stories of where I've been
And how I got to where I am
But these stories don't mean anything
When you've got no one to tell them to
It's true...I was made for you



Perhaps another day.