Something bizarre happened

I am haunted by something that happened over the weekend.  There was nothing going on this past Sunday so I decided to go down to the lake and relax on the dock.  I took a book to read and something to drink.  My only plan was to sit back, read and relax.  Sounded pretty simple.  The weather was great.  There were lot's of boaters and jet skiers speeding back and forth. 

 

I was not there for more than five minutes when a boat came by that caught my attention.  It was a ski boat that had three guys in it and they were all looking back at the guy they were towing.  The skier was on a boogie board and was using the ski rope to pull himself in closer and closer to the boat.  He got within 5 feet of the back of the boat and he dropped into the wake zone immediately behind the boat.  He let go of the roper and was now surfing on the wake wave.  He stayed on the wave for about 20 seconds and then he wiped out.  The board went one way and he the other.  He popped up and started swimming Tarzan-style to his boogie board.  At that point,, there was nothing to watch so I turned back to my book and started reading again.  Within a few minutes,  things in front of me started catching my attention.  I looked up to see the guy's in the boat pulling the surfer guy's body from the water.  A jet-skier had stopped to help, as well as another boat.  They pulled the guy in and laid him on the side of the boat.  They started yelling into his face trying to get him to regain consciousness.  The slapped him on the back and tried to shake him.  This was all happening within 20 feet of the dock.  I could hear everything.  The driver called 911 and told them what was going on.  The current was carrying the boat past me.  As they drifted away, one of the guys in the started doing CPR on the surfer.   He continued doing compressions on him as they drifted.  Once they got even with the boat ramp across the lake, the started the engine and drove onto the boat ramp.  The lake at this point is only about 100 yards across so even though they were on the far side of the lake, I was still able to see everything that was happening.  Within a few minutes the Fire Department showed up,, then a few minutes later,, Life Flight came flying up the lake and hovered near the boat ramp. 

 

Life Flight made its way across the lake and landed near the ramp.  I could not tell what was happening but besides Life Flight, EMS and the Lake police,, there were a lot of bystanders.  Within 10-15 minutes, everyone started leaving. First Life Flight,, then EMS,, then Fire Department,, police and then last but not least,, the guys in the boat. 

 

I have been watching  the news (YUCK) to see if they say anything (they did not),, I scanned the newspaper for information (there was nothing) and I checked out the Life Flight Logs posts (Nothing there either).  SO,, I have no clue what happened,, how the surfer guy is or anything. 

 

Like I said,, this whole event, which lasted not more than 40 minutes,,,continues to haunt me. I am not sure why I am dwelling on it.  I wish I could have done something.

 

Another thing that lends to the surreal images of all this is that there was a woman on the far side of the lake who watched all this activity.  She was standing out on her covered patio,, waving her arms and yelling at he boat guy's.  She had nothing to say or suggest,, she just stood on the patio,, waving her hands above her head and was screaming to catch our attention.  Over and over,, she would wave her hands above her head and yell "Yoo-Hoo".  Almost like we left our keys on her countertop and she was trying to get our attention before we got to far away from the house.     It would have been much nicer if she would have yelled,, "Hey,, I know CPR" or "Yoo-Hoo,,, I called 911",, anything would have been better than just standing there waving..

 

So much for my relaxing afternoon on the lake.  I had to pack it in after all that.. Although, I think me day was inconvenienced in a very minor way compared to the surfer guy and his buddies.  I hope that he is okay. 

 

It is just so strange to think that I could have gone during any part of the day. Any other moment,,, and I would not have seen any of this tragedy.  And, I would not have anything to write about,, which would be okay by me... 

 

 

Finally,, a good solid week

At long last,, I finally got in a full week of training. It has been a long time,, probably 2-3 months since I have been able to really have a full focused training week. It has been one thing or another. I lost 4 weeks to letting my surgeries heal. Although, I have to admit I was glad to use them as excuses to not train. Then I lost a couple of weeks due to traveling. So all in all,, I had plenty of excuses. I have been able to make a few of the long rides and I have been pretty good about making sure I got my running in. So, I am not that far behind,, just because I missed the group workouts.

This week was a bit different. No traveling so I was able to make all the scheduled workouts. I made two swimming sessions. I really lost a lot of endurance. I was struggling to keep up with the lane. We did about 3600 meters at each workout. I started fading about three quarters of the way through the workouts. I felt good though that I hung in there. Mostly I was glad to be in the pool again. It sure helps start the day a lot better when you do something so early. The rest of the day just feels easy. I even made a track workout. I was very apprehensive about the track session but I forced myself to make it. Once there,, I was okay,, it was just the initial part of getting to the track that was the hardest part.

"There comes a time in every rightly constructed boy's life when he has a regained desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure". Mark Twain

Somehow.. someone hid my treasures in pools, tracks, on the trails and on the roads... I guess if it was left out and easy to find,, it would not be called a treasure.

Another Race - and another week

Jack's Generic Triathlon was today.  It was my second tri of the summer since Arizona.  It was a good day.  Part of the fun was the large number of T3er's out there.  I was a bit baffled by my race day preparations.  I took everything so lightly.  Usually I feel like I stress out over my preparations.  I lay everything out and double check all my equipment.  Now,, I just start putting stuff in my backpack and head out to the race.  I guess it is normal and that this what comes with being well prepared.  Who knows.    The race went well.. I finished in 1 hour 23 minutes.   I am sort of ,,, almost,, pretty close to being happy with my results.  I am slower than last year by a minute or two, and as usual, I am normal.  Or, I should say that I am average.  I always come out in the middle of the pack in my age group. 

 

 

 

I was inspired by a noticeably larger number of kids in the triathlon.  I may just be that I am able to take more of the event in and am noticing the things that have always been there but it seemed like there were a lot of teenagers in the event.  When I was a teenager, there weren't any triathlons and even if there were, I probably would not have been interested in them.  It was nice to see the change. 

 

 

Back to me,,, I am looking forward to kicking off the organized training for Arizona. 

 

This week, I need to compress some training that I did not get in due to the race.  On top of that, I am supposed to go out of town so that will throw a monkey wrench into my training.  It is up to me to pull it off.. everything else is just excuses.