I do want to thank all of you for coming to my site and looking around and hopefully donating!
But I also want to thank those who made this day possible, with or without knowing it.
Uwe Brockmann is a legendary Atlanta skater and former 24 hour world record holder for inline skating and A2A champion. In addition to giving me advice and making me aware that there was actually a 24 hour record, Uwe provided additional motivation for me 2 years ago when he saw me doing laps in the park and suggested I wait until I turned 50 to attempt the record for 50 and older instead. That was good enough motivation for me to try A2A2A as a 175-mile intermediate step, as a sort of proof of concept. And Uwe was one of the first people I saw at the finish that day. And he seemed impressed.
Rick Sadlier helped me along outside Taco Mac one night 2 years ago (so he recalls, the details escape me) by suggesting if I wanted a real challenge, to skate to Athens first before turning around to skate back to Atlanta with the race that year. Having it seem like someone else’s idea, and a challenge, made it easier to undertake. I’m not crazy! It was Rick’s idea!
Rob Garner has been our most dependable skater in Atlanta Peachtree Road Rollers for the last 3 years, and 2 years ago he helped me along by insisting on driving to Athens that night while I skated, meeting me 17 miles into it in Stone Mountain. Good thing, too, because I lost my turn sheet around mile 45 when I pulled some food out of my pocket!
Joel Skelton used to be an Atlanta skater and never stops telling me how much better I would be if I actually learned how to skate! But when he found me in Athens that morning 2 years ago, he pledged to stick with me and make sure I skated all the way back to Atlanta with my horrible form. For his efforts, he got a P.R. that day! But I could not have done it as easily without him. And he did finally convince me to ….
…. go to Skate Farm this summer, so thank you, Eddy Matzger, for allowing to take part even though I haven’t been able to pay for it yet! But I hope to do so in September! This Montreal trip just keeps getting expensiver and expensiver.
And thanks to Don Kramer for his logistical assistance as of late in helping me with the trip and with helping me with my volunteer responsibilities in the Jewish community that have taken a back seat lately to my skating and my job. And to Bruce Belden, whose intimidation tactics always give me pause for a while (like when he said I would be crying for my momma by mile 140 two years ago), but who is also there with good teammate advice and tips and whose unwanted Polar HR monitor watch I will be wearing for 300 miles come Saturday.
And thanks to the rest of APRR for keeping it interesting week after week!