Prep, cold time, crash time

It worked out very well having Friday off. Cindy and I basically handled all of the stuff we would normally do on a Saturday morning and then used the rest of the day to pack, make lists, and do the prep for the race we were timing Saturday morning. Cindy’s daughter Katie who is helping us out with chicken care this time around stopped by for a little bit for some last minute training.

We made sure to get to bed early. I think I fell asleep before 9:30. Unfortunately lately on race nights I rarely sleep until the alarm, despite it being set stupidly early, 4:30 AM this time. I was awake at least an hour before that and simply tossed and turned, thinking about all that had to get done today.

The race was down in Marco Island so we had a drive of more than 45 minutes to get there. It was chilly by Florida standards with temps in the upper 50’s with a gusting wind that made it feel significantly colder. For some stupid reason I thought cargo shorts would work out well in these conditions. I paid for my stupidity with shivering for a good portion of the morning.

The race was small with a little over 200 people signed up. There were no major problems during the event other than a few missed reads on the main finish line timing box. Luckily I had a back up box in place which picked up the runners 10 feet later. Cindy and I wasted no time packing up and getting off site. We pulled out around 9:45, great considering the race didn’t start until 8AM and was 5 miles long instead of a 5k.

When we got home the up tempo pace continued. After getting all of the race equipment inside Cindy went out to attend to all of the chicken needs while I was inside working on post race stuff in fast forward mode. We wound up getting it all done and were pretty much ready to go when Katie pulled up about 15 minutes before we planned to leave.

When Katie came in she told us that her work called and asked her to come in an hour early at 3 instead of 4 so now we needed to get going asap so she could make that happen. We wrapped things up, threw the luggage in the Prius and did a quick double check making sure we didn’t forget anything.

Cindy and Katie jumped in the back seat and I drove. I backed down the driveway and looked over my left shoulder to make sure I had plenty of room to back into the turn around. Just before I was about to apply the brakes we hear the sickening sound of impact. I totally forgot Katie had parked her boyfriends car in the turn around and I banged into the middle of the passenger side door with the corner of the Prius.

I was of course instantly furious with myself that I was not paying attention. I pulled forward and we surveyed the damage. Katie was crying because she knew her boyfriend would be pissed. I told her she had nothing to be upset about, it was 100% my fault and I will make sure the damage is taken care of.

The 350Z had a damaged area maybe the size of two footballs along with some paint scratching, most of which would probably buff out with some Scratch X elbow grease. The Prius had paint damage on the corner of the bumper. The impact also popped a top seam of the bumper that I was able to “fix” easily with a few shots of my fist.

Of course I felt terrible that I hit the car and that Katie was so upset about it but we really had no time to dwell on it. During the ride to the airport Cindy called Katie’s boyfriend and told him. I talked to him as well and told him I was sorry and I would get it fixed. He was understanding on the phone but later seemed less so when he was texting with Katie. I do understand, I would be angry and upset as well in that situation but obviously I am not the type that is going to hang him out to dry and not handle it.

I was so spaced out, preoccupied, frustrated with the incident, the lack of sleep, and NYC stuff that I got off the wrong exit for the airport, having to get there via a slower back road. The fun continued when we got to the airport. We got a notice earlier in the day that our 3:16 flight was delayed around 15 minutes, no big deal. When we got to the airport that delay look like it vanished as the flight was once again showing as ON TIME.

Well the flight departure time came and went without so much as a peep from the flight desk which I thought was odd. When they did finally address the delay they said the flight might be delayed 20 minutes. We left terra firma at 4:18 more than hour after we were scheduled.

Hey I understand delays happen in air travel all the time. What I don’t understand is the airlines practice of overpromising and under delivering when it comes to communicating the delay to passengers. If a delay might take 30 minutes, tell people 40 minutes to be safe. If it takes 10 minutes longer than planned people are still happy. If it only takes 30 minutes they are very happy. When you know that the delay only will take 20 minutes if the planets align and absolutely everything goes perfectly don’t give people false expectations based on unlikely scenarios. It isn’t rocket science, geezus.

There was some good news. The flight was not booked solid so the seat in front of me is empty, meaning I don’t have to worry about some idiot smashing into my knees when they decide they need to fully recline, regardless of the height of the passenger behind them. Jet Blue has much nicer amenities than most airlines with FULL cans of soda and generous snacks.

I am punching out this entry on my $150 notebook. Some of their planes offer free wi-fi as well. That is not the case on our Airbus 190 so I am working offline and will dump this to the cloud in NYC. By the time we take public transportation into the city, get to the hotel and eat something for dinner I have a feeling I will be running on fumes.

I need a decent night of rest tonight to prepare for my meet up with IronLoo tomorrow which is going to consist of atlas stones, farmer carries, deadlifting, tire flipping and whatever other crazy stuff he has in mind. It should be quite the day.