September

Go to Entry#155: Marathon story. 

Last year in September 2022, we were there.September 2022

9/25/2023.  
I was an EA (Educational assistant) at the local middle school. It was also called a media specialist (specialized EA). I was an assistant for a head school librarian (my awesome boss!) You might wonder and be curious, thinking "Did you need a certification or degree of librarian?"  I didn't. I don't have it. I just tried to be useful/heplful/cheerful for all staffs (especially for my boss, of course). It was a good time being inside schools watching young scholars all day long. Miss seeing them still. Our, teacher-friends' and mine's, paths are pointing towards different directions now. I'm glad that they are doing well with new systems in this school year. I can still send a tiny cheer to them from my house. Yes, I can. Photos from Nov 2021. I left chalk messages to TMS, then they sent these photos to me in return. You can imagine easily how much it made me smile and happy. 
Many of them left TMS onto their new chapters somewhere else, new wonderful staffs are in now (whom I don't know). I still admire a lot what they do there for teens/preteens. Yay for them.

9/25/2023.  
My blog is a small site using a free blog builder app. Since it is a free one, it won't be found from any internet/google search. I still keep enjoying expressing myself here. Although sometimes I wonder wheather I can post photos of friends and students. I'd love to share them because they are wonderful and awesome to me in many ways. Hope they don't mind.  Here, my husband's awesome colleagues. Biology department "crews"!  
After my husband's injury, I've gotten more chances to get to know about them. It's a wonderful part of our new-normal to me indeed.

Entry#159. 9/24/2023. 
We are still learning about handcycle races. It’s a bit tricky because a handcycle is “a kind of bicycle”, this division is not considered as “running event”. But “pushrim” or racing wheelchair are (most of the time) considered as “a part of runners”.  You can imagine easily that pushrim athletes take similar “time” with runners for full/half marathon. (Top marathon runners will take 2 hours 30 min, so as top pushrim athletes.) On the other hand, handcyclists’ marathon times have variety. The top handcyclist finishes 26.2 mi very quickly. That’s why some big city events have a handcycle race as an exhibition.
Compared to Europe, in the United State, several big cities’ marathon events include “handcycle division”. Usually handcyclists do staggered start, 5 min before runners’ starting. At this AFM, both handcyclists and pushrim athletes started together. But their results were scored separately. Photos below are the results. You see the difference of Time.

We learned about “escort cyclists” as well. At first, I thought it was for just only safety, like making sure that there is no accident or crash.  But the main purpose of escort-cyclists is “navigational guide” of the course. It’s very important to let habdcyclists know “which direction to turn” in the right timing, since handcyclists on lower seats have poor visibility ahead. The video below shows you “how escort-cyclists give handcyclists signs”.

At a downhill, my husband would want to go faster as fast as possible, so as any handcyclists. However, if he wasn’t sure which way he turns right after a downhill, he would have to be slow down for a while and lose some time because of that. I’m grateful for having escorts at handcycle division. Plus, when flat tires happens on the road during the race, escorts might be able to help to “fix” flat tires if there are right tools and times. Although it wouldn’t work that way all the time, I imagine.
It is a teamwork indeed and it worked well at AFM for my husband, as well. Here is the photo; my husband and his escort-cyclist! 

9/23/2023.  P.S. Happy 51st anniversary to my parents!! Here, the photo today 9/23/2023! Yay for them.

9/23/2023.  
At last, after my husband's handcycle full marathon race, we were back on the bike trail today. The high temperature during the day is still warm, but evening atmosphere felt autum with fall-colors and crunchy-sounds. It was relaxing very much. Bonus: At the parking in the middle, we bumped into a teacher-friend (she used to teach 8th grade science.) who was about to start biking. Then she joined us on our route to our end. What a wonderful coincidence. I loved it!

Entry#158. 9/23/2023.  
Sometimes I just wanna put myself into the past time, past memories. Today was just like that day. Plus 9/23 is always a lovely day to me because it's my parents' anniversary. It's 51st this year! Hurray to my parents. 
I was once an assistant for high/middle school cross country teams in fall 2019. Just one season only. (I think I was too nosy to be around the team that the head coach saw me too often. That was why he recruited me. Funny.) And it was a good call because my son was in the team and it was his senior year, his last year. I could have followed him as much as I could. Unfortunately a week before the school started, he tore ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) at the indoor climbing gym. We never forget at that moment. He knew right away "Aw, my season is over." suddenly. Well, I had an amazing unforgettable experience with awesome runners, anyway. I didn't do real coaching jobs for them, instead I was there for their moral support with my cheer spirit. I know my presence was not so resourceful and knowledgeable to runners. But I tried to do what I could do at that time. You know? I cannot do that again, that was just a special gift to me from coaches/runners' kindness. I was grateful. 

Do you spot me in the photo above? This photo was taken in the beginning of August before my son got injured. So you can see him, too. 

The cross country course in Eaton is one of my favorite courses. They had an open 5K race for anyone at the end. I ran! Usually athletes were already on the way home. I didn't expect any audience because this open race was always small, attendee number was 5-6. Small! Right before the start, my runners asked me "do you want to cheer-chants with us?" Are you familiar with this kind of chants? We did it together. I was overjoyed, of course. Photo below was the right after the chants, running back to the starting line.

And here is the current awesome head coach! We ran at the girls on the run in Cincinnati in May 2019. Sending her a big cheer on this season's big success with her awesome runners.

9/21/2023.  
For the record, one of my "Christmas" cactus started blooming in "September"!!  Last year, one of them in my husband's office bloomed in October which was earliest blooms ever of mine. It's funny that we still call it "Christmas cactus". Love them.

9/18/2023.  
The next door/room of my husband's office has been changed. (We know him very much, he moved into the new office room.) I found something interesting on his door today. I really love these kind of quizzes and questions. Hmmmm I need to find out the answer. 

Entry#157.  
Reflection #2 of AFM from my perspective
It was my very first time to watch a full marathon with my own eyes. I used to watch high school cross country 5K races. I used to search course maps and find a good spot to be able to see runners multiple times if possible. At the Flying Pig 10K race in Cincinnati when my husband attended as a handcyclist in May 2023, I wanted to watch him at some points beside start/finish lines. It was tricky but I watched him twice at the bridges. It was super exciting out there.
This time, I learned something new about spectators for a full marathon. At the Air Force Marathon in Dayton, they set up a place called “Fairbone Fly Zone” spectator area with coffee and food at a mile 15 mark point. They provide shuttle buses from start/finish areas to this Fly Zone. This idea of buses sounds so convenient and useful, doesn’t it? I was excited when I discovered this system. A full marathon distance is 26.2 mile (42.195 km). I calculated a bit. If I could run 5K for 30min, I might be able to run full marathon for 4 hours 15 minutes (at the fastest). (I don’t think I could…) Olympian (men) runs 2 hours 8 minutes. (Wow)
The bus from Fly Zone would start run back to the finish line at 9:45am! This time-setting would work and would not miss watching the first runner to cross the finish line at all.
However, it wouldn’t work for me at all. Because handcyclists are faster. The champion last year finished 26.2 mi for 1 hour 16 minutes!! What?  My husband set his goal for less than 1 hour 40 minutes. This means I could not use a shuttle bus to go to the mile 15 point to watch a race. I wished I could though.
The only option I could do was staying in the finish line area to wait and watch my husband to finish.
Waiting for 1 hour 30 minutes freezing cold outside sounded a bit tough and boring. But it was fun actually (you doubt my words, maybe?). The mobile phone app (a screenshot is below) saved my waiting time very much. You would be surprised and love it. You could track athletes on the course map and could see where they were at almost live timing. And I did track them, handcyclists! It was exciting really. Then I witnessed top handcyclists, two of them were tied!! They held their hands together and crossed the line. It was amazing. Counted the number of finishers till my husband showed up. I yelled at him and called his name right before he crossed the line even though I wasn’t sure whether he heard me.  I can say that my husband had a blast. You know? So as I!

Entry#156. 
Reflection #1 of AFM from my perspective. 
I think I am really jinxed about Big events. Every time I get excited and make an announcement about it to people in the world, something wrong happens. Thinking back on MU commencement May 2022. After I made an announcement “My husband is going to attend the ceremony! Wooooo hoooo!”, he got sick. Then we had an uneasy time two days before the ceremony. After all, he made it, though.  
This time, I got excited and made an announcement “My husband’s big marathon race is coming up! He is ready.” Then guess what? Yes, you guessed right. He got feeling not good and his last-minute training which he had been planning stopped. He was about to complete his 4 months training for the marathon. I felt bad, very bad for him. Under his SCI body system/condition, it just happens suddenly. Usually, we don’t need to go to ER or hospital, but we don’t have a quick solution neither (like having antibiotics for sinus infection or bladder infection for myself). We just need to wait and observe patiently until it’s settled. As you can imagine, this made me nervous, worrying and uncomfortable. I needed to think about giving up the marathon this year. I even told him “Okay, there is always next year.” It was uncertain how much he could recover and how much his body could handle marathon with not-100%-health.  
Because the race would start at 7:25am, we had a reservation at the hotel in Dayton. At home, I was all behind the schedule for packing stuffs, handcycle and tools/gears. On the day before the race, we made it to drive to the hotel, get a bib and attend the meeting. I was relieved really.
I think these “bad timing issues” would make the event more “dramatic” or “magical”. I was thankful and grateful when he was ready at the start line. My eyes were wet.
On the other hand, I was panicked on the night before the race. Just because I was behind the preparation, I had to pump the tires and check bolts/breaks at the hotel parking lot. I did it okay. Then my face got pale realizing “oh no, I forgot the extra tube in case of a flat tire???!” That’d be so bad, you know?  I had to be careful and I was supposed to be helpful for my husband’s big race. Right?  Fortunately and luckily, I loaded it a while ago into our van, which I forgot about for a while. Wheeew, my mind was settled then.
I was praying for everything of his body, mentality and the actual marathon race on the night before the race, thinking repeatedly “what if a flat tire happens?” “what if he crashes on the road?” and “what if his handcycle is broken in the middle?” Then I realized that he couldn’t sleep enough at the hotel because his body system was a bit upset or something. That made me feel more nervous.  
But, I kept praying and managed our morning routine. See? That’s why my mind was full of thoughts and emotions when I saw him ready at the start line with other handcyclists. I was simply happy to witness his big event. 

9/17/2023.  
I think I would frame this photo because it's special. Two of them tied for first in the men's handcycle (hand crank) division. One is the forth. And my husband is the fifth! Yes, #1,2,4 and 5 are here together in this photo. So special, especially to me. It was really honor to greet them (top handcyclists!). Hurray! for them. 

Entry#155. 9/16/2023.  
My husband did it!!! Air Force Marathon 2023! in Dayton, OH. I have a lot of things to say about this day, I really do. But first of all, I want to celebrate BIG for his tremendous accomplishments. My eyes were wet several times before, during and after the race. It was freezing cold morning, colder than he imagined. You see airplanes there? It was so nice to see them before the race started. All settings and atmosphere made athletes' adrenaline up high, so as mine.   

This was the start-line. Do you see many marathon runners behind handcyclists? Handcyclists and pushrim athletes did staggered start 5min before runners officially started. 

This race made me feel happier ever for my husband. To tell the truth, there were "downs" at the last week of the preparation, I had been feeling uneasy really. (I'll write about it someday.) The highlight of whole event (to myself) was seeing him with other great wheelchair athletes. It was his very first Full marathon with his racer-type (lower seating style) handcycle. I cannot tell whether he was actually nervous or not. We felt ourselves as "newbies" a bit the day before at the place we picked up the bib. (At least I felt that a bit.) I think it was like "magic" because he had nice chat times with other athletes after he crossed the finish line. They talked about their race, smiling and being proud of themselves. See? I LOVED everything at that time.

I am very proud of my husband. Guess what happened when he talked to other wheelchair athletes? They invited him to another handcycle race in Grand Rapids, MI!! Are you smiling?

9/14/2023.  
I learned the term "handpie" from my wonderful baker-friend in town. We used to work at the local public library together. Her handmade handpie is a perfect size for me.  After leaning this term "handpie", I was so excited to find this term on the menu at one of my favorite coffee shop. So I was eager to order "handpie" there. I did!! It was a different size than I expected. But it was delicious and I was satisfied 100%. 

9/14/2023.  
Our son takes an entomology class in this fall semester and it seems he is collecting (catching) insects for his assignment. I love this assignment. Sounds fun also challenging. I see some insects in my yard. I get excited to inform him what I see in my yard asking "do you want to catch it?" Funny. One of them was a praying mantis!

9/13/2023.  
This article made me so smile. This is wonderful. Wow. 
https://oxfordobserver.org/13373/community/talawanda-cross-country-soars-at-redhawk-rumble/

Title: Talawanda Cross Country soars at RedHawk Rumble. 
Photo from an article

Entry#154. 9/09/2023.  
In honor of the big race “Air Force Marathon 2023” in Dayton coming up on this Saturday September 16th, I’d love to put “the timeline of my husband’s handcycle journey” here, when/how it started. It might be interesting to you. 

“Timeline of Racing style handcycles”

July 2021. The accident at RRG.   
(4 months later)  
November 13, 2021. Attended the handcycle try-it event. (He found the new excitement at this point. Simple joy.)

(1 month later).
December 19, 2021. Purchased the very first his own handcycle (a used one). 

Not much riding handcycle in cold winter.  
Resuming handcycling in spring 2022  
(After about whole one year with his handcycle #1)  
(Actually training for 10k was for 2 months!)   
May 6, 2023. Frying Pig 10K race 

(2 weeks later from the 10K race).
May 20, 2023. Purchased another used handcycle. Lower seating real racer style. 

(After about 4 month of riding his new handcycle #2!).
September 16, 2023. Air Force Marathon 26.2mi (42.195 km) It is coming, yes, this Saturday!

My husband’s actual handcycle “career” started in January 2022. (5 months later from the accident)(He might prefer to say the another time period from his perspective, though.) And I gotta say this, he had only 4 month of training for the marathon with his handcycle #2. I can say he is ready. The most exciting part would be "meeting some skillful veteran handcyclers" and "lining up at the starting line with them"!! I'll be his cheerleader with a big big heart. 

Entry#153. 9/05/2023. 
Bumping into our friends on bike trails are not happening much because there are many trails around here and we go all over the place. So if the coincidence happens my joy gets so high, you know? This was at the end of our ride at the parking. Two wonderful teacher-friends (and they are cyclists!) passed by us. I was super happy to see them on the trail. It's in Hamilton!

They shared with us their fall break trip to Missouri! And they taught us about Katy trail there. Sounds so exciting and I'm now looking forward to hearing about their trip story afterward. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katy_Trail_State_Park

See the video below. It's so so interesting about this trail system! Wow. 
Imagine that my husband and I would visit there to bike some sections with his handcycle and manage to get in the train with his wheelchair as well in future future. Wow, imagine that!

Entry#152. 9/05/2023.  
I'm pretty sure that you are chuckling now reading my entries because 9/05 has several stories on one day. Ha. In these days, I'm not able to put one story per a day, everyday. Well, I still have many stories to share. Funny. 
My husband's big race will come up soon. Air Force Marathon (AFM).  Here is a good article.  
Title is: 2023 Air Force Marathon weekend: What you need to know

https://www.wpafb.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3511790/2023-air-force-marathon-weekend-what-you-need-to-know/

I am also reviewing the course watching this video.

9/05/2023.  
I am in the process of grieving. I cannot write with "right" and "graceful" phrases here, but I keep thinking about him and his precious wonderful sweet wife everyday. Our wonderful friend, he passed away.... I went to the visitation with my husband. I cried. She is my best mentor and my meaningful friend. We hugged tightly, tighter and tighter. It happened so unexpectedly and suddenly. I am in the process of grieving really. I will visit her soon because I really want to. I hope she doesn't mind that I put photos of him here. I miss him. 

9/05/2023.  
One of our great friend who used to be a barista, is a climber and soccer player still and has a nice job in Cincinnati area, he introduced us a new coffee shop just one block away from his new living place. And we made it to meet up there together. We were falling in love with this coffee shop right away. We had a great chatting time. The big bonus was meeting his sweet girlfriend!! 
The view of the front entrance of this coffee shop was "horrible" to me because it looks impossible to enter for a wheelchair. (I sometimes express very exaggerated, I know.) Once I know the accessible back side ramp, I got feeling very grateful. 

9/05/2023. 
It's also the high/middle school Cross country season! The temperature is still too hot to compete, but hopefully the nice crisp cool temperature comes pretty soon. I visited the evening meet at Miami University cross country course. I love this course personally. I biked up there with my mountainbike. They did a great job, yes, everyone did. 

9/05/2023.  
The another new semester has started. Our town gets crowded again and the campus is full of people again. It's all good to us. (I think I can say that.) Our favorite coffee shop, Kofenya gets back to the semester-hours. Each semester, they have new baristas, of course. Sometimes it makes me think "they might not know about my husband's accident at all". It just comes into my mind naturally. Even I thought "they have no idea about cappchino-cup-drawings." Funny?  It was just a wonderful memory now for myself. But guess what? You couldn't stop shouting "Welcone back!!!!" to the sweet barista lady when she returned from Study abroad in Austria whole last semester, and she stood behind the counter to get your order. She made me soooo happy. Guess what I asked her right away? "Can you draw something on a to-go-cup for me??" Because she was the one who used to wrote nice drawings and words on cappuccino cups. It was even better that she wrote in German!! So awesome. 

9/05/2023. 
We've explored many bike trails around here since my husband started handcycling. We see cyclists (from beginner-lookings to professional-lookings) on trails. That makes me feel happier and more joyful all the time. Also I've heard the term "group rides" sometimes and I wondered "what it's like?". 
Most of the time, basically I follow my husband because his speed is faster especially at downhill. However I should be in front of him where we cross the traffic road since his view is limited from the low-seating-setting of a racer handcycle. We don't "talk" much during biking, but I yell at him "Wow, feels SOOOO GOOD!" just naturally. Funny? 
On one Sunday evening, we had a great opportunity to do a group ride with wonderful 2 couples in town. We picked the bike trail in Richmond, IN which was one of my favorites! 
It was a joyful ride with them. As you see, my husband picked his up-right-seating handcycle this time because he thought it would be better to "chat" with them during pedaling. I was grateful for having such a caring thoughtful friends around us very much.