The Wheel

This morning began peaceful and serene. We see dolphins in the river just about every single day if we look for them. This morning as I returned from the pool, I saw several playing along the shoreline near some fisherman's boat. They must really like people, ever curious and playful around the boats. I wish I could have held on to this peace for the entire day, but no suck luck when I was behind before I even got back to the house at 7:15. I felt like I was running on a hamster wheel the whole day...trying to make progress, but wondering if I was getting anywhere at all?

The day began with a track workout at 4:30am. We ended up with about 7 miles of quality after the 3 miles warm up and some 800s descending. It felt so good to do some speed again. I love track workouts and I miss having some consistency with standing dates to run circles with. If I can say one negative thing about this group, they tend to be haphazard in the way they train, finicky about workouts and whereabouts. The track crowd has been lacking and I hate running circles in the dark by myself. So, I was happy this morning to meet up with a few loonies, as we climbed the fence to the track (I am still in disbelief that we have to do this) and meandered over in the dark at the start.

So, the whole workout, I vacillated between feeling like I hate this small town, and loving the people who comprise it. I despise so much about living in Nowhereville, but I love the people I now call friends. George is the local orthopedic surgeon and he works with Jim, the neurosurgeon. Tom showed up at the track this morning and told us some stories about how when he and Jim went to do White Lake Half Ironman in North Carolina, he had dehydration issues race day. I love how he talked about being pulled off the course because he was blacking out and swaying back and forth in the run. Once the officials had Tom in the tiny hospital there, they called Jim, Tom's training partner and emergency contact, and asked, "Are you this man's doctor?" Tom did Jim's southern drawl perfectly, "Well, I guess I am now. What the hell happened to him out there?" Jim had to rescue Tom from the hospital, where they wanted to keep him overnight.

Tom went on to tell another story about how about a few years ago after the hurricanes, he had another unfortunate incident. He was running on a rainy morning with the group over the bridges, and somehow did not notice the barriers and sandbags along the road from after the storm. He tripped and fell and broke his hip and collarbone once he hit the slick pavement. George had been with them that morning, but had apparently already gone his separate way before this accident. Doc turned early because he had to get home and on to the hospital into surgery. Tom, hollering in pain on the road, told the others to call Doc George, who in turn, rearranged his day and met Tom at the hospital. George had Tom in for surgery that morning to fix up his busted bones. What a friend.

These people are like family to each other, and I think that is what a small town brings. Everyone is linked to everyone else. There is less than six degrees of separation here...I think it is more like two degrees? Anyway, Tom's stories were uplifting and comical, light and airy before I headed into the dark and dreary of the pool. Actually, the pool was not bad, and after talking to all those guys about triathlon, I felt mildly excited to slip into the water and turn my arms over. My legs were dead from the track, so I pulled quite a bit. The air was warm and the pool even warmer. The usuals were at the pool, which was nice and we chatted between sets, something I made up as I went along. I may have swam 1500, which was fine for me to call it a day.

The rest of the day is a blur.....in a word, frantic. Running in the car everywhere with the kids, literally, every hour accounted for. School, park, errands, gymnastics, errands, play dates, meeting with Team in Training for the triathlon team, errands, and on and on. I am dead to the world and ready to fall into bed. I must admit that I am feeling a little smug that we are part of the "A Crowd" for the park play date. I have come to learn that not everyone receives an invite to the exclusive club that meets at the park every early release Wednesday. I kind of dig that we made the cut and that my kids meet the credentials to be part of the clique. I realize how utterly ridiculous and arrogant this sounds, but the more time I spend with some of these women, the more I am realizing just how difficult it is to break into the Mom Crowd in Nowhereville. I felt readily accepted by the runner crowd; for some reason it is the group that has the least to prove (though some very competitive), and they were the most willing to befriend me right off the bat. Maybe in skimpy running shorts and naked tops, there is no place to hide? We are who we are in our running shoes and we cannot mask anything with makeup and jewelry at 4:30 am? It really is hard to be glamorous and put-together when we are sweating like no one's business here in the Africa heat.

The whole mom thing is another story, however. It seems that here, there are so many more stay at home moms than where we are from, so I guess when the kids are the center of one's existence, there is more to prove in the parenting and with one's identity. Many of these moms don't have too many outside hobbies apart from their kids, so they command the whole mom scene (soccer, tennis, swim team, cheer leading, PTA, playgroup, latest SUV)and they are going to let you know it. I feel fortunate that most of the moms I have met thus far have taken me in to show me the ropes in such a small place. Of course, there are plenty of snooty women on the island, but there are some who tool around in their golf carts and wear jeans that are (gasp!)non-designer from somewhere that is not a local boutique. These women are really actually fun to be with, and they bring humor in light of me bemoaning the red ants at the park when we sit in the grass and get eaten alive.

I finally made my way back home around 5 pm tonight, dizzy from exhaustion, but elevated to see more dolphins in the water as we came back over to the island. For the most part, this place is pretty vanilla, apart from the beautiful beaches and palms that grow in the sand. I miss the mountains and hills and rolling anything, but the dolphins tend to add a little something most days.