Countdown to Triathlon - 227Days, 32.42 weeks to Race Day (See Installment 32 of "The Journey", 220 mile bike ride, below)

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -

"If I had to select one quality, one personal characteristic that I regard as being most highly correlated with success, whatever the field, I would pick the trait of persistence.  Determination.  The will to endure to the end to get knocked down seventy times and get up off the floor saying "Here comes number seventy-one!"

Richard DeVos

This is so true!  When I was training for the bike ride and I really, really, really wanted to quit, I remembered that the Lord told me to do the ride in the first place and I couldn't let Him down nor the people who were encouraging me and had contributed to my efforts.  I just couldn't quit!  It doesn't matter what the reason is that a person perseveres, but that he/she just does it.


The Journey - Installment Thirty-Three

Cindy, coming into our hotel room after the race showing her medal.

      

Cindy (left), Barb, Patti (right) leaving the hotel to do some sightseeing,



         We did go do some more sightseeing.  Remember, while Patti and I went to Trump Towers and  Rockefeller Plaza on Saturday,  where we saw the beautiful chrysanthemums, Cindy was getting ready for the race and didn't go with us that day.  We told her how beautiful the flowers were and we were wanting her to see them too.  When we arrive at Rockefeller Plaza, every last one of them was gone.  They had ripped up the entire area to get ready for the Rockefeller Plaza Christmas Tree.  Patti and I were so happy we had gotten to see the fall displays and Cindy had to be content looking at the photos we took.

        Sitting on a box on the sidewalk at the entrance to the plaza was a little man dressed as an elf.  His job was to direct people downstairs to the gift shop.  We stood and talked to him for quite a while and talked with him about how different New York City seemed to us in contrast to our Pre-conceived notions.  We then went to the gift shop and purchased some items.  I bought some Christmas ornaments that had been painted before September 11th.  They were hand painted with the skyline of New York City, showing the Twin Towers with Santa and his sleigh flying above through the sky.  I took one home for each of my children and for myself.

                                                      Nearby was Radio City Music Hall.

        A block or so away we saw St. Patrick's Cathedral where there were lines of firemen and policemen.  They were holding funeral for some of their lost buddies.

     After that sobering moment, we boarded the subway and went to Macys.  Below, you get a second chance to see the ugly shoes.  You can just barely see them if you look closely.  They really look great with a skirt, don't they?