Sunday, April 16, 2006

The Champion and The Invalid

On Wednesday, the "Mormon Law Students" played in the championship for intramural flag football. The road leading up to the game was nothing short of amazing, with nailbiter finishes every night. The championship game was no different and did not disappoint. It was so close, the wives sitting in the bleachers thought the team had lost when it was over and even thought the celebration they saw was just the boys congratulating each other on a good run. Unfortunately, Cherylyn was not in attendance as she was visiting Tricia in New Jersey, and when the wives realized their mistake in thinking the boys had lost, one of them said "Tanner, if Cherylyn had been here, she would have made sure we knew that you guys had won". The win was especially sweet as the team beat two teams both of which had beat them in football and basketball last year. Tanner was clutch as always with his solid coverage, and especially with his ability to nail all the extra point kicks (final score 20-19).

















Although Tanner's knee did not bother him during the football tournament, he had not been doing any training for the Charlottesville half marathon in the hopes that his leg would heal and he would be able to run on Saturday. Our friends Dave and Jen were also running in the race and we were excited to see all of their training pay off. I, meanwhile, was traveling back from New Jersey to get to Charlottesville and meet up with everyone the night before the big race. The traffic was so bad, that what should have been a 5 1/2 hour drive, took just over 8 hours. My only saving grace was that Clark was an angel and only cried for about 30 mins of the whole trip (I wanted to cry for 2 1/2 hours of the trip). The race started early the next morning, so I arrived later with Dave's brother and his family to greet them as they came in at the finish. We waited with anticipation as each runner came around the corner hoping to see Tanner and Jen and then later Dave, who was running the full marathon. Suddenly, we saw Jen come around the corner at just over 2 hours, and we cheered her on to the finish. I began to be very worried about Tanner, and as another 30 minutes went by, I became very concerned. All of the sudden, I looked toward the finish line, and there was Tanner coming from the opposite direction! There was a split second when I thought I had totally missed seeing him pass by, and then I saw his leg. Tanner was able to run 7.5 miles before his leg began to lock at the knee, and the pain was too much to continue. He was given a ride back by the EMTs. He was disappointed that he could not finish, especially since he had trained so hard, but his wife and son were so proud of him! In my moment of sympathy, I told him maybe I would try to train with him and we could do it together next year (what am I, stupid?!!). Meanwhile, we had seen Jen going through the finish, but we did not see her come back, and finally her sister in law went to check on her, and we found out that the EMTs had checked her blood pressure when she came through and it was 68/30 (scary!). They hooked her up to an IV and pumped 2 liters of fluid in her. She said she didn't even remember seeing us or hearing us when she passed, she was so delirious. After those two developments, we were all concerned about Dave, but sure enough, just before 4 hours, Dave came around the corner (can you imagine running for 4 hours?!!) He said it was the hardest marathon he has ever ran (he has done 2 others). We celebrated the day by going out to pizza in downtown Charlottesville, and as you can imagine, Dave and Jen did not eat. We had a great time with Dave and Jen and their family.

2 comments:

nanamoo said...

Wow! That's all I can say!

Melanie said...

Oh my goodness, I almost cried twice just thinking about the happy winning law students, and the extra long car ride (your little boy is AMAZING), and then the marathon which was still amazing (hello, who can run 7.5 miles?) and the disappointment, but still happiness....

I'm just glad that everyone is safe and well and that Tanner can heal and move onto waterskiing for the summer!