Karma

All is still quiet on the homefront... Brenan had an appointment with his oncologist yesterday that he described as "uneventful." We know we've been through way too much in the world of cancer when we can describe an appointment to a cancer doctor as "uneventful." He said they didn't even take blood. Imagine that!

As far as the triathlon goes, I am getting more and more nervous, but continuing to train my little butt off. On Friday night, I pumped up my bike tires and loaded Purple Thunder into my car to get ready for an early morning ride on Saturday. Upon pulling into the parking lot at Tempe Beach Park and opening my trunk, I came to the horrifying realization that both my tires had become completely flat overnight.

Not being a morning person (AT ALL), I immediately became a little cranky. There is no way I woke up at 4:30 a.m. on a Saturday only to stand and look out at the bike path I was supposed to be riding on. As I sat on my bumper taking a moment to let the reality of the situation wash over me, and curse myself for being an incompetent triathlete, a couple rode into the parking lot on their bikes towards their car.

Lucky me! Here's a couple who look like they know what they are doing - hence probably brought a bike pump WITH them to the park. I asked to borrow their pump and set to work correcting my situation. But for some reason the tires were just not filling with air. I pretended to know exactly what I was doing and worked diligently on my tire situation, but the woman noticed that I truly had no clue. She offered to help, but the tires still wouldn't fill with air even with her superior tire-inflating skills.

"I bet you need new tubes," she said.

"There's no way! I just got new tires put on this bike!"

The couple insisted on removing my tires and checking the tubes, which indeed were damaged. The man pulled two new tubes from their trunk (Note to self: Apparently when you become an experienced rider, you know that you should carry a pump and extra tubes as a precaution.) and proceeded to change out the tubes on my bike and inflate my tires. Turns out, I had somehow pinched the tubes the night before when blowing up the tires and created a hole in each tube.

The couple wouldn't accept cash for parts or labor. Good thing, because I didn't have any. They even gave me a quick lesson in how to fix a flat. Within 30 minutes, Purple Thunder and I were cruising down the very same bike route I will be traveling on the day of the triathlon. I didn't even catch the couples' names.

I learned a valuable lesson. They had no idea I was training for a race against cancer, yet they took their time and resources to help me to the best of their ability. It certainly made me want to be a more helpful person, no questions asked.