Lew, Lew, Lew :)

I'm in love. It's kind of all or nothing with me. 

One of the people I love is my 81 year old Ironman Great, Lew Hollander. 

If you've read "My midnight date with a Great" - you probably love him too. If you haven't read it - a quick run through will bring you up to speed, but get some tissues :)

I had three hours to kill in the Houston airport yesterday. Headed back from Miami. FYI I have a lot of people ask me which race is my favorite. I've never really had an answer... but after this weekend, Miami was certainly one of the best race weekends... ever.
My voice is gone after that race  this weekend - for good reason of course... and so my usual go-to (talking to someone to pass time) wasn't going to work. 

Then the magazine wall called me. 

Since magazines are on the "illegals" list this year, I just thumb through a few of them from time to time just to make sure I know what year it is and move on...

 and usually buy some Nibs or Fig Newtons or something. 

The headlines make me ill. More Teen Mom drama, or Kardashian Khaos, Demi is too skinny and Will and Jada??? There's really no need to even flip through them. 

Real Simple is more up my alley right about now. 

Maybe they'll help me out with this whole homemade ornament idea that so fair has been nothing but an #epicfail. 

I'm not entirely sure what that means but I see it a lot on facebook... so I'll give it a whirl. 

Well near Real Simple and some of the magazines that actually offer some sort of "content" I notice someone I recognize. And not the usual suspect. It's a triathlete named Andreas Raelert. and not on the cover of Sports Illustrated. It's Outside Magazine.

Intrigued I pick it up and take a look...but it's when I open it... that my heart starts to flutter...

 There he is. My buddy Lew. The oldest Ironman finisher, 2 time defending age group champ (80+ division) and one of those guys who just always brings me to tears. 

Of course... cover model Andreas Raelert certainly doesn't disappoint the eyes either... :)

I'm know being featured in my blog was probably flattering... ha but to make it in Outside Magazine... Glad I can say I knew you when Lew :) I hope next year you'll land the cover. 

Magazine Magnets

One of the things I was missing most since my departure from the "new" world... magazines. 

Then like an angel...A friend offered out of nowhere... to give me her old ones for my 5 hour flight. I barely managed to keep my nose out of them until we were well above the clouds (didn't want to waste them)

 I was downright giddy... removing them from my bag, putting them in the seat back pocket in front of me... using all self control to wait until we were at least 10 feet off the ground before I tore into them. It was almost scary how excited I was to peek at what the rest of the world was seeing inside these colorful picture filled pages. For the first few minutes it was exactly how I remembered it...

Then... my whole mood shifted. 

As I thumbed through the pages I became more and more aware of all the "new" products... that are sitting on those shelves... in those stores I don't frequent anymore... and I felt jilted. This sucked. New scientifically proven eye cream amped with caffeine to lessen the bags, and fortified with resveratrol to help reverse aging... that's tinted! It probably promises to make you more likely to win the Lottery too! 

Then... the taunting came from nail polish hues that are in for the season, which I definitely don't have and can't buy, and those feather colored things for your hair, and spritzes and sprays that lure me in with their pull and sniff pages... and these aren't even the smut magazines!

 That's when it dawned on me. This whole thing was just a huge marketing ploy. Even the few articles that are in there are laden with tactics to get you to join a gym (to buy new "workout" clothes) so you can lose weight (and have to buy new "going out" clothes), get a date (and feel obligated to test the new makeup trends) you get the idea...

 Here I was feeling like I was somehow behind, inadequate, outdated...

But prior to picking up those magazines, I was a pretty happy camper.

No one had commented...if my clothes were out of style, or that my nail polish was the wrong hue... I never felt like people were looking at me funny (although I was hanging out with people who were running around in their underpants....)

Heck, I even managed to pack for my trip to Hawaii without shopping, and wasn't sad about it at all! until now...

Leaving that island felt like I had just enjoyed a retreat... but reading those magazines threw me for a little turbulence. 

 Also in that seat back pocket...a book about the 1989 Ironwar between two Ironman greats.

And filed away upstairs in my memory - not clouded by any guilt or marketing gimmicks... the year Lew Hollander and runner up Mirinda Carfrae had brought me to tears twice in one day and once again, renewed my faith in ones own strength... My belly had welcomed a slew of fish tacos and acai bowls throughout the week... I'd been for a swim with the tropical fish, a few runs down the famous Alii drive... and not ONCE... thought about all the stuff  I couldn't buy... that wouldn't make a darn bit of difference in my life anyway. 

When the Hawaiian airlines flight attendants came by I offered my magazines up for their trash pick up. They just smiled. Oblivious to my newfound revelation... they probably flipped through them later,  not realizing that each page was secretly ratcheting up to that extra $20 they didn't intend to spend on their next trip to Target. Not me. There's no bullseye on my back, on my bags or on my credit card statement.

The next thing you know we were about to land and I was 120 pages deep into a true story that was not only giving me a history lesson, but also a good reason to do something... rather than buy something...

In case you were wondering... It was a Gift... and I've already promised it away... when I'm finished :) 

My Midnight date with a Great...

We met on a very lonely stretch of highway in Kona Hawaii 3 years ago. 

October 2009...I was a "rookie" so to speak. My "initiation" at the Ironman World Championships was to stay awake long enough to adopt an athlete. That meant heading outside of town a few miles and choose an athlete who was in need of a reminder that they could make it to that finish line before midnight. Not nearly as challenging as actually doing the race... right? 

The recession was upon us... and the Queen K highway street lights were all dark except 1... every quarter mile. His figure was the only thing I could make out in the distance. This 79 year old physicist from Oregon was after his 20th Ironman finish here in Kona and although his feet were tired, his wit was unwavering. 

If my watch was true, he was going to need to pick up the pace a little if he wanted to earn that title once again. As an incentive...I reminded him that just a few days ago I was running around in my underpants at the annual "underpants run"... and really... there wasn't much I wasn't willing to do to make sure he crossed that finish line before midnight. He chuckled and told me "we don't have enough time for that sweetheart!" 

We laughed our way through the next mile and turned onto Alii Drive as the resounding cheers lifted his worn shoes and spirits and carried him down that finish shoot just 7 minutes before midnight. 

I never saw Lew again. 

October 2010...One year later, I'm once again at baggage claim at the Kona airport. I overhear rumblings that there's an 80 year old competing this year, and he's got his age group all to himself. I know it's got to be Lew. Facebook pulls up a guy by the name of Lew Hollander so I befriend him and shoot him a message. It's his son, who puts me in touch with his dad. Just a few hours later I'm on my way to see him... this time in daylight. I humbly explain that I ran out to find someone, hoping to motivate them to the finish line, but instead came home motivated to get myself to an Ironman finish line... He laughed and says he's glad I actually exist. Last year had been a tough one for him and he wasn't entirely sure he hadn't made me up! 

Thankfully, he asked if we could meet up again for our "date" at mile 24. I was ecstatic. Closely following his splits all day, I had naively planned to meet him between 11 and 11:30pm again. Silly me. He was averaging an entire HOUR faster... despite being one year older. 

10:30pm arrived and so did Lew at our annual meeting place...mile 24...2.2 to go. 

I jokingly told him that I couldn't run with him... clearly he wasn't struggling... I was supposed to be out here helping those in need... He asked me to join him for at least a little while. Not 5 minutes went by and a convertible with a camera crew rolls up alongside us. He informed me it was the NBC crew. They had been to his house in Bend Oregon to film his preparation for this big race and had popped in on him throughout the day. I offered to step out so he could enjoy the spotlight and he said "oh no! wait till they get a load of this... the old guy... gets the hot chick!" 2010 was a good race year for Lew...

The first year I met Lew I thought, if he can do this, I should be able to as well. I vowed to complete that same distance... 140.6 miles. The second year I ran with Lew, I still hadn't lived up to my word. This year, I vowed to make good on my promise so that if/when I saw him on that lonely stretch of the Queen K I could pound that pavement with a newfound understanding. 

October 2011....I shot him a text 2 days before the race. No response. Not everybody texts. I called and he answered. 

"Is this Lew Hollander" 

 "I sure hope so!"

"This is Ann Wessling"

"Who?"

"I'm the blond girl who comes out and runs with you."

"Oh yeah... I remember you. Are you here this year?"

"I am. Would you mind if I joined you again?"

"Sure, but it's going to be late. probably 16:20. I had a rough year"

"I wouldn't miss it Lew"

"Great. See you out there"

For our crew and family and friends, working, heck even spectating this race is exhausting. After we had done our work for the day, our editors went back to start putting it all together and I saddled up with my computer to keep an eye on Lew's split times which would help me gauge when to head out for our "date". I was getting text messages from people who were out on the finish line welcoming more athletes, but I was glued to my computer waiting for updates. It finally came. Lew was right on track. I headed out of town and out on the blacktop. Only this year... they left a few more lights on for us :)

Right on cue... the most strapping 81 year old appeared.

With camera crews in tow... of course.

It wasn't long before more and more people were asking... are you Lew? 

We shook the Paparazzi for a few moments so I could snap a picture. But it seemed Lew's affect on me, had had the same affect on the whole world. 

I caught a few minutes of our run on video. It was about the only thing I could do, since the waterworks drown out most of my intelligible conversation :)

I'm not sure I ever told him I did that race I promised I would do... but who the hell cares... He's done 22 of these suckers, is the oldest person to ever complete this race... and now he's the 2 time defending champ in his age group (this year there were 4 competitors!)

... and doesn't he look good doing it :)

 I think maybe I have a little more work to do before I can gloat about it to him! ha