It's All Over Except for the Sunburn

Saturday March 13, 2010

1:00 PM

I have had a perfect day so far. I woke up early in yet another strange room and bedroom. I have been in Jacksonville, Florida for 3 days in support of my friends at Challenged Athletes Foundation. I especially had a blast with 6 year old Timmy, a below the knee amputee that just blew me away with his positive attitude. If he is handicapped, then we should all be so lucky. I ran the Gate River 15k with me good friend Chris Roman and about 18,000 other runners.

Okay, all that was fine but I was totally preoccupied wondering about Norma and how she was doing. And then the best part of the day happened, I got an e-mail from Norma!!! My phone “dinged” and was overjoyed to see her name on my phone. I was really frustrated by the lack of information that is available from these races. Although I have to say that the Racing the Planet folks did a good job considering they were in the middle of a giant desert. Today it was worth the wait for information. Here is what she had to say:

“i made it, it was a tough go physically but not mentally, i lost 3 other toenails and the sharp terrain cut through my shoes, it got better once i decided to slow down. it took me about 15 hrs to finish, too long. there where a couple of parts where i could run and i started to get on a rythm and then sharp hard terrain came and i lost all the time i won and a lot of people overtook me again, this happen several times and i was so frustrated but then i realized that’s what my son karl feels all the time, having to be tutored just to catch up to everybody all the time. so i became more determine to find a cure for him, nobody should have to work so hard all the time. Mario also asked me on camera if i was disappointed since i could have done so much better but i don't want to focus on what i didn't accomplish but instead i realized how amazing is the fact that i am here finishing the race given the fact that it didn't look like it was going to happen. the amazing support of everybody that came to my rescue. also, the team red hot chili runners, the 4 boys that came on the bus with me from argentina, 4 friends from london told me last night while on the course, we where all struggling, that they are going to donate the funds of next years annual fundraising to my charity, that's incredible, that i managed to inspire them. the boys are your biggest fans now, after playing Running the Sahara on the bus, and i told them that if we don't have anything on that date next year, we might come to london to join them at their fundraising party.

well. we start at 12 noon and suppose to run 10k, then i will run to chat with you. i am looking forward to hearing your voice soon. love you baby.

8:00 PM

Norma sent me one more short e-mail to say that she is FINISHED and very happy and tired. She is already trying to deal with the problem of getting home but having problems arranging for a ride back to Salta. She didn’t get to enjoy the finish for very long before having to deal with reality. But she asked me to tell everyone that she is fine and she could feel all of the amazing positive energy everyone was sending her way.

Norma will take back her blog in a few days. Thanks to everyone for tuning in . See you down the road. Charlie