My quads and hamstrings are burning, yelling at my body to just plain cut it out. I am hungry but don't feel like eating anything. There are throngs of spectators shouting and clapping. The ring of cow bells can be heard from all around me. But the spectators don't really speak to me for some reason. Their screams seem to go around me rather than encourage me. It is almost as if they are not really there. I am hurting and my body is pleading with me to just stop already. Then, just as I pass mile 22, I see a giant screen ahead of me. And on that screen, I see the following picture.
I have to admit that I burst into tears. But the picture was the just the shot I needed. I got to look at it for at least 20 to 30 seconds. The picture must have been over ten feet tall on the huge screen. I cried and I talked to John. I was here because of him. I was suffering and in pain but as John said, "It will go away eventually." With 4 miles to go, I just wanted to walk. John helped me persevere and keep running. Granted, I was well off my pace as I was fading hard. But look at that picture. Look at the joy in his accomplishments. I will always cherish my memories of John and our life as brothers. I miss him every day.
My New York Marathon debut was less than ideal. I had managed to raise nearly $4000 for Team Spina Bifida so my main goal was accomplished before the starting gun went off. But there were a few factors that lead me to have a race that could have been better.
For starters, my nutrition plan was not planned out well enough. On the morning of the race as I stood in line for food at about 4:40AM in the hotel, I realized that my plan of getting a bagel sandwich was thwarted as they did not have any bagels. They had them yesterday and the day after, but not on race morning for some reason. I got a couple of croissants and a Red Bull. I thought that with those things in addition to the bananas and other things I had in my bag, I would have plenty of calories. In retrospect, I should have gotten the food I wanted the day before.
After getting our food, we went back up to the hotel to put the finishing touches on morning preparations and then headed out for the 20 minute walk to the NYC Library where I was scheduled to pick up the 6AM bus. The logistics person for the NYC Marathon is a proper planner. There were corrals and police directing directing traffic for blocks and blocks leading up to the bus pickup corner. There were multiple volunteers and check points and so many buses double parked as far as the eye could see. Everything was well planned and well executed. Everything went off like clockwork.
My buss trip was uneventful. The guy next to me did not seem to want to talk and simply looked at his phone the whole time. It took about an hour to get to Staten Island where we got off the bus and were herded through metal detectors and security screenings onto Fort Wadsworth. It was 7AM. My wave did not go off until 10:15. One important thing to note was that it was easily 10 degrees cooler on Staten Island and quite breezy. I was under dressed for sure. It was going to be a long cold wait before I got to actually run.
Once I got through security, I took trip number 1 to the porta john. I took my time in there. It was nice and warm. I then made my way to the Blue Race Village. There were three different villages setup, each with it's own pre-race food, hot water, porta johns, etc. I hung out for a while on the curb with my arms wrapped around my knees as I shivered some. I had a few conversations with strangers and took a picture for a small group. There were loud speakers all around with the same informational messages playing on a loop. But the instructions were in 4 or 5 different languages. It was sort of funny to hear a person's voice speaking in another language until they got to the phrase "therapy dog" which I guess does not translate well into other languages.
I decided to get closer to my actual start corral which was Wave 2, corral A. I hung out there for a bit before making at least 3 more trips to the porta john. I ate all the rest of my bananas and had more Red Bull. And I continued to shiver. I really felt sort of miserable just sitting around shivering.
I have a space blanket underneath the shirt - it was not enough
At last it was time to start walking over to the Varrazano-Narrows bridge. There were several announcements made that there were no bathrooms on the bridge and to go before you left the start villages. I thought I had taken care of everything but wouldn't you know it, right before the gun went off on the bridge, I had to go again. There was nothing I could but hold it until I had a place to stop.
When the gun went off, we all took off. I immediately got into the pace I wanted to run for the race. Looking back, starting off at pace after sitting around shivering for 3 hours was probably the worst way to start a race. Normally, it takes me about 3 miles to warm up before I can start hitting my paces. Going out cold like I did without properly fueling my body lead to my less than optimal performance. I started out great but after about mile 8, I could start to feel the slightest ache in my left quad just above the knee. And I still had to pee so bad. Somewhere between mile 9 and 10, I found a good stopping point and hit he porta john. It was like that scene in Austin Powers.
Despite stopping for so long to go, that mile was not terrible. I ran at 8:13 min mile for that one but then the next 3 were right on pace at 7:52, 7:46, and 7:52. Then I hit another bridge which slowed me to an 8:00 for that mile. And then I started to fade a bit. My legs were starting to hurt quit a bit and I was only on mile 15. Also, the chatter among racers had died down and it was strangely quite on the bridge from Brookland into Manhattan. All I could hear was the pitter-patter of feet on the pavement. I was not the only one starting to struggle.
Melissa had planned to be at around mile 16 so I kept focused on that. When I did get into Manhattan, I was greeting by a wall of sound. Despite a dreary, cool, and drizzly day, people in Manhattan had come out in droves to cheer. Somehow, I did see Melissa in the crowds as she cheered for me. I got a nice boost from that and tried to maintain my pace.
By mile 19, the wheels really fell off. I was hurting and had slowed to a 9+ minute pace which was more than a minute off what I wanted to maintain. And it just got worse from there. Rather than describing each mile, you can see the great fade below.
Splits
Time
Cumulative Time
Moving Time
Distance
Elev Gain
Elev Loss
Avg Pace
Avg Moving Pace
Best Pace
Avg HR
Max HR
Avg Run Cadence
Max Run Cadence
Avg Stride Length
Avg Vertical Ratio
Avg Vertical Oscillation
Avg GCT Balance
Avg Ground Contact Time
Calories
1
8:01.5
8:01.5
7:55
1.00
161
0
8:01
7:55
7:28
141
154
181
191
1.11
7.2
8.0
49.0% L / 51.0% R
256
93
2
7:25.2
15:27
7:19
1.00
0
177
7:25
7:19
7:08
137
144
173
178
1.26
7.3
9.5
48.1% L / 51.9% R
258
79
3
7:50.5
23:17
7:50
1.00
39
30
7:50
7:50
7:20
138
148
172
186
1.19
7.7
9.4
47.9% L / 52.1% R
259
91
4
7:42.9
31:00
7:42.9
1.00
20
20
7:43
7:43
7:20
142
146
171
178
1.22
7.7
9.6
48.1% L / 51.9% R
259
89
5
7:51.6
38:52
7:47
1.00
16
23
7:52
7:47
7:07
145
150
170
177
1.21
7.9
9.7
48.1% L / 51.9% R
257
90
6
7:46
46:38
7:41
1.00
20
39
7:46
7:41
7:17
143
154
170
178
1.22
7.9
9.7
48.2% L / 51.8% R
256
85
7
7:34.3
54:12
7:32
1.00
13
30
7:34
7:32
6:41
148
152
170
175
1.25
8.1
9.7
48.3% L / 51.7% R
252
87
8
7:47.3
1:01:59
7:45
1.00
26
7
7:47
7:45
5:46
149
156
171
178
1.21
7.7
9.5
48.5% L / 51.5% R
256
92
9
7:55.9
1:09:55
7:52
1.00
59
36
7:56
7:52
7:22
150
156
171
190
1.19
7.7
9.4
48.5% L / 51.5% R
260
92
10
8:13.2
1:18:08
7:36
1.00
3
49
8:13
7:36
7:10
145
153
163
220
1.22
8.1
9.7
48.2% L / 51.8% R
250
79
11
7:52.3
1:26:01
7:46
1.00
49
7
7:52
7:46
7:35
150
155
172
180
1.19
7.9
9.5
48.2% L / 51.8% R
254
86
12
7:47.1
1:33:48
7:42
1.00
7
49
7:47
7:42
6:23
148
155
172
223
1.27
7.9
9.7
48.4% L / 51.6% R
251
78
13
7:50.9
1:41:39
7:44
1.00
26
26
7:51
7:44
7:25
150
154
173
186
1.19
7.8
9.4
48.5% L / 51.5% R
253
80
14
8:02.5
1:49:41
8:00
1.00
43
39
8:03
8:00
7:17
148
153
170
186
1.17
7.9
9.4
48.7% L / 51.3% R
255
73
15
8:52.0
1:58:33
8:46
1.00
62
0
8:52
8:46
7:12
145
150
171
177
1.06
8.7
8.9
48.9% L / 51.1% R
267
63
16
8:29.3
2:07:02
8:26
1.00
75
43
8:29
8:26
6:25
147
155
172
178
1.10
9.7
9.1
48.8% L / 51.2% R
261
66
17
8:29.9
2:15:32
8:27
1.00
16
69
8:30
8:27
6:02
142
148
172
178
1.11
8.5
9.4
48.9% L / 51.1% R
254
46
18
8:27.1
2:23:59
8:23
1.00
23
52
8:27
8:23
7:32
143
147
172
181
1.11
8.2
9.3
49.2% L / 50.8% R
257
51
19
9:18.0
2:33:17
9:13
1.00
3
0
9:18
9:13
8:06
137
146
171
177
1.02
8.4
8.8
49.6% L / 50.4% R
268
39
20
9:58.1
2:43:15
9:50
1.00
46
10
9:58
9:50
9:04
130
136
169
177
0.96
8.6
8.3
49.7% L / 50.3% R
278
30
21
9:35.3
2:52:51
9:34
1.00
33
39
9:35
9:34
8:51
129
138
171
178
0.98
8.6
8.7
50.0% L / 50.0% R
273
32
22
9:17.5
3:02:08
9:13
1.00
3
23
9:17
9:13
7:51
138
143
169
177
1.02
8.9
9.2
49.6% L / 50.4% R
267
50
23
10:10
3:12:18
10:00
1.00
3
0
10:10
10:00
8:04
134
145
167
174
0.95
8.8
8.6
49.9% L / 50.1% R
277
50
24
11:06
3:23:24
11:05
1.00
95
0
11:06
11:05
9:16
132
143
164
176
0.89
9.4
8.4
49.4% L / 50.6% R
284
53
25
11:03
3:34:27
11:02
1.00
43
62
11:03
11:02
9:02
128
140
163
179
0.90
9.0
8.2
49.9% L / 50.1% R
279
45
26
11:14
3:45:42
11:11
1.00
33
39
11:14
11:11
9:08
129
141
165
178
0.87
9.1
8.3
49.8% L / 50.2% R
280
55
27
4:02.6
3:49:44
4:00
0.50
13
10
8:05
8:00
6:15
142
147
169
174
1.19
9.3
9.4
48.8% L / 51.2% R
264
38
Summary
3:49:44
3:49:44
3:49:09
26.50
932
879
At this point in the race, I just wanted it to be over. And that's when I saw John's picture on the screen. I still continued to fade but seeing his smile and knowing his history of perseverance helped me keep going even I was off the goal pace.
I saw Melissa one more time after coming out of Central Park before going back into Central Park for the final half mile or so. I continued running although it was more of a shuffle. I managed to pick up the pace a bit at the end as I ran across the finish line. I had managed to PR by more than 15 minutes which is a big accomplishment. But I had the potential to do much better. In the end, I represented John well and raised a good chunk of change for Team Spina Bifida. If I ever do another stand alone marathon, I will actually train for it as a marathoner should. My training was mostly for Triathlon and if I really wanted to do well, I would need to focus on running. Maybe someday.
As I sit and write this, I am still sore and still recovering. Running NYC was a fun experience and there is a lot about the race I enjoyed. But my execution could have been much better. I have leaned a great deal and know what it will take to improve.
Here are few pictures from the trip.
That might be a smile
Oh. The pain!
That is NOT a smile!
But that sure is!
Central Park the Day Before the Race
Times Square
Radio City Near our Hotel
Another Times Square Pic
Panoramic - Probably good one to open on your computer
Before Ironman Texas, I decided that if I felt up to it, I would race again a few weeks later at the Kinetic Triathlon Festival at Lake Anna which is only about an hours drive from my house. After a couple weeks of recovery, I decided to pull the trigger and register for the Kinetic Half. Unfortunately, the race was full. I inquired with the race company and they said that if someone dropped out, an entry would be added. On the last day of registration, I kept checking the website on and off all day. No luck. When I got home, I decided I would try one more time. Bingo! One entry was added and I was able to register for the race. I had no real goals or expectations other than to run better than I did in Texas. I did have a specific power goal for the bike that my coach gave me. I thought he was asking a lot and the power seemed high to me. But then again, I had just completed the best power test of my life the week before. It turns out that doing an Ironman and then getting a little rest is a good way to boost performance. I had such a good time at the race. The swim was wetsuit legal which was great. It was relatively easy and there was nothing notable about the swim. On the bike, I hit my power numbers on the dot which surprised and delighted me. And then on the run, I was able to pace myself well. At Kinetic there is one long hill out of T1 that lasts for about a mile. And since the run course is three loops, you have to run it 3 times. Despite the hill, I had a great run and actually beat my half marathon PR by about a minute. I didn't even realize that until I sat down to write this report. Here are my age group results for the race. I left before the awards but was able to pay to have my trophy mailed to me.
My goal for this report is to make it as short as possible but to still capture everything worth remembering about the day. I won't go into too much detail about every little aspect of the race but will instead focus on the important stuff that affected my overall performance.
Leading up to the race, I had the misfortune of being hit by a car while riding my bike. Luckily it was a slow motion accident as a car rolled through a red light while I was crossing Laburnum Ave on the Capital Trail. When I got hit, I was so mad. The driver got out and was very apologetic and admitted he was at fault. I gathered myself off the pavement and out of the road. After a quick examination of myself and my bike, I determined I was mostly OK. So the driver went on his way and I decided to continue on my ride. I had a 4 hour ride planned and was only about 45 minutes into the ride.
While riding up the hill, I noticed some throbbing on the outside of my lower leg. I stopped to inspect it and noticed some bruising and swelling. I decided I would continue my ride and reevaluate myself at Four Mile Creek Park which was about 10 minutes away. While riding to the park, I was in a pretty bad mood. I ended up pushing it pretty hard to let off some steam. When I arrived at the park, I stopped and used the bathroom and ate a squashed banana. I decided I would continue for a little longer. At some point, I realized I only had a few miles to the next milestone/bathroom. So I continued. In the end, I ended up with 72 miles on the bike. I decided I must be OK since I was able to do that. However, my knee was a bit tweaked. But I was able to complete all my workouts without any pain including a long brick the following weekend. I felt like I was in pretty good shape for the race.
The night before the race, I could not sleep. I was tossing and turning, my mind racing all night. In the end I probably got about 2.5 to 3 hours of sleep. Not ideal at all. On the day of the race, it was announced that the water temperature was 78.8 which meant the swim was wetsuit-optional. We could swim in a wetsuit if we wanted to but we would not be eligible for age group awards. I am not sure why I chose to wear my wetsuit. I knew wearing a wetsuit in a wetsuit-optional swim would mean I would be at the back of the line. That worked out well for me in Louisville. Until I crashed out anyways. Perhaps the lack of sleep clouded my judgment. I know I was extremely anxious and not feeling my best. I am much faster in my wetsuit for sure. But wearing the wetsuit in the warm water for the hour and 17 minutes it took me to complete the swim turned out to be a bad idea. When I got on the bike, I downed all my fluids in the first 10 minutes of the ride. I felt pretty good for about 45 minutes. After that, I felt pretty bad. In fact, I would say I felt horrible. I questioned why in the world I was doing this. I entertained the idea of quitting. But only momentarily. I knew I could finish the race even in the worst conditions. Also, when I am feeling one of these inevitable low spots during a long day of racing, I always think of my brother John and how he was such a trooper. That always helps get me through the rough patches. At mile 60 I stopped to use the porta pottie. It was quite evident by the color of my urine that I was very dehydrated. I was pumping the fluids in as much as possible but the warm swim put me in a deficit that was proving hard to overcome. Right after the bathroom break, I stopped in special needs and drank two Red Bulls. They were still cool since I had frozen them the night before. The short break along with the rush of sugar and caffeine boosted me up a bit. I started to feel better and rode the next section feeling pretty good. However, once I hit the final turnaround, the reality of the strong headwind was in my face. A cold front had rolled through and I was fighting to maintain 14 mph on the bike. I stayed aero as much as possible but my body was tired and I could not stay down for long periods of time. Everyone around me was struggling. The toll road for IMTX is mostly flat, mostly smooth, with no traffic and lots of room. Those are the pros. The cons? No break from the heat or the wind. And absolutely no scenery. Just miles and miles of concrete. Kinda boring really. The bike course beat me down and was a bit demoralizing. The wind was relentless and the course mentally challenging. I had hoped to finish the course in about 5 hours and 45 minutes. When I turned off of the toll road, I realized I would be over 6 hours. Definitely not a terrible performance especially considering the wind and how awful I felt. But slightly off my initial private goal. My official bike split was 6 hours and 10 minutes. Later when I looked at the data from my Garmin, I found that I had 6 hours of ride time for the 110 miles (the course was slightly short) and 10 minutes all together of time not moving. The 10 minutes was the accumulation of bathroom breaks and special needs. Normally in an Ironman I would just pee on myself on the bike course. But I was not in the mood and in the end I think the bathroom breaks helped me hit he reset button. When I finished the bike, I was greeted by my cheering fans. It is always so great to hear Melissa's encouraging screams. And Melissa's sister and husband were there too so I had extra encouragement. I always get a lift when I see Melissa out on the course. It was quite refreshing. Once I hit the run course, I felt relieved that I felt fairly decent. Running is my thing and I usually am most comfortable hammering out a run. I was doing well until about mile 10. That's when things started to turn for the worse. My knee started bothering me. I could tell it was from when I got hit by the car a few weeks ago. The pain gradually got worse until I had to start taking walk breaks every few minutes. Unfortunately this meant that my 4 hour marathon goal was slowly slipping away. As I slogged my way through the rest of the race, I noticed that I did not seem to be sweating any longer. Also, I had to stop to use the porta pottie about every mile or 2. I have never had to go so much in my life. I am not sure of the science behind it but I am guessing I did not take in enough salt after my dehydrating swim.
In the end, I ended up running the marathon in about 4:25. This was much slower than I was hoping for but in the end, my overall time was not terrible. It was quite slower than IMTN in 2014. But considering the pain I was experiencing due to the incident with the car, I can't really complain too much. After all, there was a man who died during the swim portion. I feel so bad for his family and when I think about it, I am just happy that I am healthy and was able to have a respectable finishing time. My overall finish time was about 12:20. Not my best performance but I think I learned some things for next time regarding nutrition and pacing. I have to thank Melissa for her support. And thanks to her family for putting us up in Texas. We had a very comfortable and relaxing time leading up to the race. Thanks also to my coach David Luscan who prepared me for the race. Dave has elevated my fitness much higher and faster than I could ever accomplish on my own. His science based, no nonsense approach to endurance training fits in well with my personality. Thanks for reading!
Well, its been almost a year since I have written anything in my blog. It seems there are a lot of similar kinds of blogs out there where people recount their races and publish long race reports. I occasionally read amateur and pro race reports myself. I hate to say it but most of the time, they are pretty boring. As a person whose writing is somewhere in between "high school essay" and "college essay" quality with a wish it was more like classic Douglas Adams, I realized that my race reports were also likely boring and that realization killed my motivation to sit down and record my thoughts. However, I mostly do this for myself so, with effort, I am going to inject some life back into my blog. Before I get to race reports though, I have something to share about a special person who we recently lost. Richard LeFrancois was one of my neighbors growing up in Vienna, VA. Mr. LeFrancois as we called him was a really great man and a good friend to our family. He and my dad worked together on many projects and my brother John was really fond of him. John hung on his every word and Mr. L, as we sometimes called him, would invoke deep laughter from John. Mr. LeFrancois was a very generous person. He gave one of the most precious things anyone could give. His time. He donated his time to help others. He volunteered, he drove near and far to rescue stranded friends and family. He was a hard worker and truly an inspiring person. He was also so cool. Not James Dean cool mind you. His coolness came from his warmth. He never seemed stressed and somehow he projected that warmth and grounded personality onto those around him. I have many stories of how Mr. LeFrancois helped my family and want to share a few them now. When John and I were young, we used to travel with my dad to Southwest Virginia to visit my grandmother. I am not sure how old we were at the time but we were in elementary school so we were pretty young. We were traveling back from Southwest VA in one of my dad's little compact Fiats. The car was one of those little economy cars that got great gas mileage but did not have many creature comforts. On this trip, the Fiat broke down near Harrisonburg, VA. Back then, we did not have cell phones or AAA but we had something better. We had Mr. LeFrancois as a friend. We holed up in the lobby of the Howard Johnson's Inn on Interstate 81, the hypotenuse of Virginia while my dad put in a call to Mr. L. Mr L dropped what he was doing and drove his red pickup truck the two hours to Harrisonburg to tow the car home. John and I sat in the cab of the truck while my dad sat in the Fiat. After all, the truck was not a tow truck. Mr. L had simply used some chains to tether the car to the back of the truck. My dad had to steer and brake as we made the trip home. It seemed like a very long trip as it was so late and we had to drive sort of slow. But we made it home late that night, all in one piece. It was at that time that I learned a phrase from Mr LeFrancois. He said, "you know what Fiat stands for right? Fix it again Tony." At my age, I didn't appreciate it but later in life, I learned the humor. More importantly, I can hear him saying that to me in my head. I will always have that memory to draw upon. Mr LeFrancois brought levity to situations of stress. At least that is the way I remember him. Fast forward several years. My brother Erik was on his way to Virginia Tech or on his way back when he broke down on the side of the Interstate. Erik called my Dad who in turn called Mr. LeFrancois. Again, Mr. L dropped what he was doing so he could help. Erik waited patiently for the rescue. Not sure what to expect, Erik was a little surprised when Mr LeFrancois drove up in a flat bed truck and my dad drove up in another car. The car was for Erik and his friends to continue their trip. Mr. L and my dad loaded the broken down car onto the flat bed and drove it back to Vienna. Again, Mr. L had saved the day. Besides saving stranded motorists Mr L donated a great deal of time to Vienna Youth Soccer. If you played soccer in the 70s and 80s in Vienna, you were likely playing on a field that was built and maintained by Mr. LeFrancois. He and my dad would lay out the fields with walking wheels, rope, and good old engineering skills. Dick would cut the fields, deliver goal posts, nets, and chalk. He was very active in all of the behind the scenes work required to keep youth sports going. At my Dad's internment at Arlington National Cemetery, I was walking next to Mr. L when someone asked how he knew my Dad. He replied with pride that he and my dad were activists in youth sports. That word really struck me as a very accurate way to describe him. He was an activist in the true sense of the word. He really knew how to get things done. Mr. L also had a big impact on my brother John. It may have seemed like a very small thing but with two statements, Dick would set in motion something quite profound. My brother John was born with Spina Bifida. For those of you who have managed to make your way through my blog, you know a lot about his challenges. One day John told my dad that he really would like to ride a bike. John rode a Hotwheel and a trike when he was a child. My dad must have mentioned this in passing to Mr. LeFrancois. Dick said, "There is no reason he can't ride a bike. There are tricycles for adults that he could ride." And with that, my dad pursued an adult tricycle for John. The reason this important and profound has to do with the perfect machine that is the bicycle. The bicycle allowed my brother to explore the neighborhood on his own power. He could go much farther than he could walking with his crutches. He got to see more neighbors and socialize with people. The bicycle gave John greater independence and really helped him grow. It was a simple thing but it was really a gift that Mr. LeFrancois gave to John. A simple idea with big ramifications. Mr. LeFrancois had a big impact on my life as well. He was similar to my dad. They both liked to work hard and both were role models for me. Mr. LeFrancois taught me how to drive a big tractor. I helped him cut grass as Andrews Chapel. I helped he and my dad deliver chalk to the soccer fields in middle of the night. Working with him and my dad made me feel good. I felt very useful and more grown up. Also, I have to share another story of how one simple sentence or two helped shape my life. After high school, I deferred my enrollment to Roanoke College. I was not ready to go to college and had some emotional growth that was needed before taking on the stresses of college. That summer after graduation, I was cutting grass with Mr. LeFrancois. We were on a break and he simply said, "So what do you have planned for the summer?" I told him I was not sure. He said, "You should get a job." I simply nodded my head. I had summer jobs all through high school but had nothing lined up for this summer. I told him I was not sure where I could find something. Well, don't you know it, he knew someone who might have a job opening. With a phone call, he got me a job interview at Woodies Department Store. It was a loading dock job. I worked there for a year, toting boxes and clothes, packing and unpacking trucks, meeting all kinds of people, and working 8 hours a day. I really grew emotionally during that time. I learned what it meant to work hard every day. When I got to college in the Fall of 1987, I discovered I was more mature than my fellow Freshmen. I avoided all the pitfalls that can distract a young person's mind from the reasons why one goes to college. The year of working hard at a manual labor type of job taught me to be consistent and persistent. I went on to graduate with honors. Mr. LeFrancois had helped me in a simple but profound way. Like he did with my brother, it started with a simple statement. "You should get a job." The way he said it was so matter of fact yet he said it as if he was a peer rather than as an authority figure. I am grateful to him for pushing me in that direction. Finally, fast forward to 2013-14. My dear old dad and Mr. L used to go to breakfast once a week when Dick was in town. Dick would come over, pick up my dad and take them to a local breakfast place. In those later years, my Dad was suffering from dementia. After a while, my Dad found it impossible to find the words to speak. He mostly knew what was going on but could not express himself. He gradually deteriorated. But Mr. L kept coming to pick him up and take him to breakfast. One day, my Mom said to Dick, "How can you stand sitting there with him? He doesn't ever say anything." Again, it was one sentence or two that was profound. Mr L simply replied to my mom, "I don't mind. He's my friend." What a beautiful thing to say from a truly caring and giving man. We will all miss Mr. LeFrancois. He touched so many lives in his large extended family and all across the country. If there is a soccer field in heaven, I know you are gearing up for the mowing season. You were a truly loving person. May you rest in peace. For more about Mr L. see below. http://www.moneyandking.com/_mgxroot/page_10780.php?id=1707066
