Eurie’s triathlon

On Saturday, Erik and I drove up to Sonoma to see Eurie do her Ironman triathlon. Eurie has been training for this all year, but somehow we didn’t realize until the week-of exactly how much insanity this event entails. It’s a 2.4 mile swim, followed by a 112-mile bike ride, followed by a complete 26.2-mile marathon. The athletes start at 6:45 AM and finish sometime before midnight. Halfway up to Sonoma, Erik looked at the odometer and said, “You know, since we filled up gas we’ve driven 107 miles. That’s still less than Eurie’s bike leg alone.” In those 107 miles we’d driven Shra and Devin from Cupertino to Sunnyvale, stopped in Milpitas, made three stops in Berkeley, stopped in Albany, driven home, and then started out for Sonoma… it was way more driving than we usually do, and we were tired just from sitting in the car. We thought of Eurie biking all that and more, and our minds just boggled.

We were only able to make it to Sonoma for the last few hours of the race, so we got there when it was totally dark and the fastest finishers had already completed the run. But we did station ourselves at an empty spot along the last stretch to cheer people on. I think the finish line was maybe half a mile from where we stood. Some people ran in looking as steady as if they’d just gone out for a nice jog, and they smiled or even whooped back at us when we clapped for them. Some troopers came in slowly and/or in clear pain, walking or limping; some of them seemed grateful for our presence, others marched on grimly without much response. I don’t blame them in the least, but mostly we were pretty shocked at how effusively nice the runners were; if I had just been swimming, biking, and running all day long, I’m not sure I’d manage the gracious “I really appreciate your staying out here” we got from the vast majority of those who passed us by. I know their gratitude wasn’t for us alone, but was directed at everyone who’d supported them throughout the race and before; still, we were touched by their courtesy.

It is a little awkward sometimes cheering at these kinds of events. Eurie told us later, “I hate it when people say ‘good job’ when I’m so clearly not doing a good job,” and I could see myself, many times, that saying “great job” was simply irrelevant to the struggles people were going through to finish this race. But I didn’t know what to say instead; what people want to hear when they’re having a hard time is so individual, it’s difficult enough to know what to do for friends, let alone strangers. If anyone has an adequate translation for “I honor and bow down before your intentions and effort” into one peppy catchphrase you can call out to people when they go by, I’d love to hear it! So we applauded from the moment we saw runners come around the corner — which sometimes meant clapping for several minutes when it was someone walking — and toward the end I just started singing all the Beatles songs I could think of. I figured the people who resented our energy and non-understanding of their struggle would hate the clapping and singing just as much as they’d hate a “good job,” while the people who appreciated it would feel even more supported. One guy broke into a smile when he saw us and thanked us for “the entertainment”; that was nice. I don’t think I could know just the right thing to say unless I did a race like this myself, which I never will, and anyway I’m the kind of person who doesn’t mind being praised when I’m struggling. So that’s that, I suppose.

At any rate, I am completely awed and humbled by Eurie’s commitment to this race. She raised almost $6700 against cancer, as you can see from her fundraising page, and she transformed herself — in a matter of months — into someone who could do 140.6 miles in one day and still be conscious at the end of it! Eurie, we honor and bow down before your intentions, effort, and accomplishments. You may not think you did a good job, but we do.