Day 6 – Sat Feb 2– My Mom’s Choice of How to Die

My Mom’s Choice 

This morning I got up at 6:30am to follow up on texts and email from my sister Diane McDonald and her husband Bill who are in Bellevue, WA.  taking care of my aging parents. My Mom Jean Dance is about to turn 89 this month and this has been a rough year.  She was at the doctor’s Friday in a number of procedures lasting into the night. The outcome was the doctor saying – You can make a choice. It appears there is not enough blood circulation in your right leg. Gangrene will set in again.(Her left leg was already amputated a month ago.) You can have us amputate it now, or you can let nature take its course.  If nature takes it course the doctor said you’ll have 5-6 months to live, with a possibility of only 3 and maximum of 8 because your Mom is so determined.  In the email and texts that I read Billy McDonald patiently and frankly talked to her last night about it and she chose nature’s course. So it is likely that she will die while I am in training for the triathlon 7 months away.  If that occurs I wonder if she will see me run August 10^th or if heavenly beings are interested in what is still happening on earth after they pass away.  I believe in an afterlife, very much so, and think she will have a blast seeing her Mom, Dad, brother, sister, and son Grant that only lived a few days in 1966 before passing away after birth. She may be so involved in reunions that the CDA triathlon will hold no interest.

Green Gunk

No frosted flakes at my sister Anna Heimburger’s this morning. She is fixing a green smoothie for her XC sons. It has hemp seeds for protein and Chia seeds for energy (An old Indian secret for energy eaten by the Tarahumara Indians who can run 435 miles in two days barefoot.  See an interesting YouTube video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnwIKZhrdt4  (Also the book Born to Run).  Organic peaches and organic spinach and a dash of cinnamon finish it off. You can get Chia Seeds at health food stores she said.  Keep the green drink in a mason glass jar  (to limit the air) and then it will last for two days in the fridge. A piece of toast for breakfast and that’s it.  It actually tasted good, much better than the Odwalla green gunk.

I asked Fischer if that drink was his secret as he apparently drinks it everyday. As a freshman at his high school he regularly placed 1^st on their XC running team.  As a sophomore his team took 2^nd at state, and qualified for the national race in AZ where his team was first out of 3A sized schools in the USA.  Anna said Fischer eats something substantial about 2.5 hours before races. Green drinks are one of the items.

I wonder what I should eat the morning of August 10^th, 2013 and how long before the triathlon should I eat it. Does anyone know?

XC Ski Races

I went to Mason’s XC ski race this morning. He is on the Team Soldier Hollow.  It was a super qualifier, multiple state regional, mass start for the Junior Olympic team.  Mason races at 9:15 and Fischer at 11:00am. This was the first XC ski race I had ever been to.  What a treat. I had no idea it was at the Olympic competition sites at Soldier Hollow.  That is where Mason goes to school. They cross country ski for PE. No wonder. I would too.

Relatives arrived about 9:00am. Mason had about 10 cousins, uncles, aunts come to support him. His Dad, Matthew was the race announcer and sounded good on the Olympic PA system.  He finished 6^th yesterday in time trials against the same competitors. He started in the first wave, took off, and was in 4^th place going up the hills. Down, around, and up they went again. Coming down to the final turn, his wax choice started paying off, and in the last 100 yards his support squad and endurance took him into 2^nd place.  (Fischer took 8^th later in the day, made the Junior Olympic team, and was invited to Alaska to teach native Alaskan children how to ski.)

Park City

Immediately after the race, I took off for the SLC airport an hour away. I passed Park City where some of my kids were skiing. Jeff Dance is a Level III snowboard instructor, Kari Dance his wife has been a darn good skier since I first met her as a daughter-in-law, Maria Dance, my only daughter, and  Jacob Dance, my 7^th child were all there.  If I had planned the trip better I could have been with them today. But after my ski fall last week, I am trying to recover so I can start training for the triathlon. I am beginning to walk more normally. My left calf is still tight and sore, but at least I am starting to resume a normal walking gait.

Biking

I don’t have a good bike. It is an old 21 speed by Schwinn, probably a 1970 or 1980 edition.  I bought a RAKK Storage Stand and Blackburn Multi-Mirror so I could see behind me and installed it today.