As a note to the beginning of this message, I'm not whining, I'm just sighing loudly, with hints of anger, hints of frustration, and bits of pent up energy.
Last October, when I stood at the start of the Ford Ironman World Championships in Kona, I knew it was my last hurrah as a sighted athlete, a solo triathlete, my final solo bike ride.. Needless to say my fairytale ending didn't...well...end in a fairytale!! However, I still made the decision and promise to begin my new life/career as a Paratriathlete (blind triathlete), and outwardly blind member of society; not that i was hiding it, i just wasn't doing a good job at informing people about it.
The loud sigh and sense of frustration you hear is the noise of all our (Mindy and I's) hard earned money disappearing into my Paratriathlon career. I often remind Mindy AND myself that, I'm not doing all this on purpose, I'm not trying to spend money, I'm not enjoying this....I would very much like to just keep all my stuff as is, get out and go racing. This is not to be, so i need to adjust and get on with the new chapter.
It is sad that all the things that I've loved and found function in, with regards to my solo career, many are now useless or need a good deal of tweaking. This all adds up as well. We're not talking 10's of thousands of dollars, but all and all we're talking close to 10 thousand dollars...which for us is a lot of money.
Oh c'mon, it can't be that much? Well not yet, but i can see it becoming that in a very short time. Here's a rundown of the money put out so far or needing to be put out shortly:
Tandem Bike --$5000
Car Rack--$850 (because the regular rack won't work for a tandem)
Bike Box--$400 ish (i own a regular bike box, but this won't hold a tandem.....)
Shipping--$300 a trip (i'm guessing, as i can't take the tandem on the plane, it now must go UPS)
Travel--$ whatever a plane ticket is worth (i'm not going to ask my guides to pay for themselves, not yet anyways)
Computrainer and Real Course Videos ---$2000 (becasue when others are outside riding, this is my method of enjoying the outdoors)
OK, so the last one was because I wanted it anyways, but the premise holds true though.
I find it funny that people think I'm buying all this just on a whim, but really looking at it... $9000 roughly has or will be spent within a year solely for the reason that I'm going blind.
BUT, remember this beginning of this note, I'm NOT whining... just stating fact that many don't really think about. The beauty of all this is the fact that I'm taking that frustration, pent up energy, card that I've been dealt, and I'm using the fire it's lit under my butt; to be productive, driven and highly motivated to get back on the scene in a big way.
So...what's my goal?
Attention all buisnesses great or small!
I'm offering you a once in a lifetime opportunity to get on board this fast moving train of positive energy.....C'mon, you know you want to!!
I've always wondered how people go about asking for assistance via sponsorship... and for the life of me I can't figure out how people get so good at selling themselves...
Point of the fact is, ya, I very much could use some local companies to get excited about me, about my energy and the positive impact I can make for the C-K area, but don't worry, I won't be knocking on your door....this is the best my plea gets...
C'MON!!! PLEAAAASEEEE, YOU KNOW YOU WANNA!!!
Hey, at least I tried!
How cool would it be if somebody(company) would send me to the World Championships, back to Ironman, to races big and small. I believe that all that is happening to me in life is for a very specific and positive purpose; I believe too often we look at the high priced athletes as our heroes or role models, when most of the time you simply need to look to your parent, friend, neighbour, or fellow citizen for the highest level of empowerment that money can't buy!
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