El Tour De Tucson

So, a month has gone by in the new job, and it seems like a dream. I can only thank God and pray that it continues to be a good career, with many future blessings. I went to Tucson in the middle of November with Team in Training as a Staff person, and had an amazing time. I think I had a total of 3 hours free time, but it was well worth it. The team did an amazing job (they raised over $100,000 with only 19 people for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and each one of them finished well under the time limit for closing the course). There were a few logistical things that were hectic (rental cars being foremost) but all things considered, for my first event, it went well.

It was kind of strange for me because it was the first time that I ever left my wife at home for more than 2 days on business. She's had professional development, trips to see her family in Hudson, and a few others that I couldn't attend with her because of my retail schedule, but now I have crazy flexibility. And with the flexibility, I have the tremendous blessing of being with my wife all throughout the week and all weekend. I've seen more of her in the past month than I did in our first three years of marriage. God is Awesome.

I will end with some cool pictures, and my Greg Lemond story (for those of you that don't know, Lemond was the first American to win the Tour De France and has a brand of bicycles named after him). At the beginning of the Tour De Tucson, the elite riders were given about a 5 minute head start. Greg pulled up in an SUV literally about 10 feet away from me and another southern Ohio staff member after those riders had already left the gate. When we finished snapping pictures of him, we asked if there was anything we could help with (since he was already more than 5 minutes late for the start of the race). He handed my coworker the keys to his SUV and asked her to give them to the race director so that it wouldn't get towed. (And yes, that is him in the picture to the left.)

BTW, for those snooty LA types that used to room with me, my brush with fame may seem trite, but to the rest of you midwesterners, it was pretty dang cool. ;) Peace Out.

- Papa E