Had fun this morning catching the last half of Doyce’s “Highlands Ranch Splash-Mash-Dash Sprint Triathlon”, a 2-hour-odd-long swim-bike-run extravaganza that would have had me dying any number of grizzly ways along the path, but which he took with lots of self-deprecating aplomb. Good show!
I did learn a lesson that everyone could probably use: Offering encouragement and appreciation to utter strangers in the midst of their struggles is almost always welcome and draws a smile. In this case, as we were waiting for Doyce on the final leg, I made a point of applauding and offering lots of “Almost there!” huzzahs to the runners as they jogged / trotted / staggered by. And I got more smiles and various breathless thank-yous than I do in any given week of day-to-day life.
It’s cheap good karma and feel-good. I need to give it more of a try in other contexts, too.
For my part, I made a point of thanking all the police officers and street-blocking, liquid-distributing volunteers that helped out along the way.
Except for the lap counter on the outside pool. She screwed up two people’s lap count and kept us in the water an extra two laps, and I’m still kind of pissed about that.