Family Fortunate

My Wife of eight years and I got divorced at the beginning of this year. To many people this would have been an incredibly traumatic event, a minefield full of emotional, financial, and mental issues.

I consider myself extremely fortunate, however, we somehow managed to avoid all those pitfalls and move through it pretty painlessly. Our daughter was our priority, making sure that whatever our issues we maintained a healthy friendship for her sake. We went through the process without even having to consult lawyers or go before a judge. To any considering divorce I really recommend doing whatever it takes to avoid the lawyers as they seem to make everything even worse (and more expensive). We settled our issues amicably and the rest was just filling out some paperwork.

I am extremely proud and pleased to report that we still support each other in every endeavor, the most recent of which is my upcoming Peacock 100k race. Neither she nor my daughter have been to any of my races this year, usually they start extremely early in the morning were over pretty quickly. So, I wasn't sure what her reaction would be when I ask if they wanted to meet up during my race.

The Peacock consists of two loops of a little more than 30 miles each and I figured that it would be really cool to see my daughter and Cari at the finish of the first loop/start of the second loop. Failing that, having them be there for the finish would be really meaningful. They didn't have to hang out for the entire race, just getting to see them at some point would really lift my spirits (and inspire me to keep moving when I want to give up). I should also mention that the race takes place on the other side of the island so it would involve a minimum hour and a half round trip drive.

That was where it got interesting. I called her up and Cari was instantly supportive and wanted to know what else she could do (even volunteering her new Husband as a pacer for the last ten miles and he immediately agreed to do it). Over the course of the conversation the plan blossomed into everyone camping out Friday night a short trip from the starting line, then making an entire day out of the race.

How cool is that? Seriously! It would have been enough to have them pop in for a quick visit at some point, but to have her jump in head first really, really means a lot. When I finish the 100k, it will be in no small part due to her.