Elimination...

Tuesday: I was so excited this morning that I woke up at 3:30 AM and laid there in bed looking at the ceiling thinking about Elimination on the Scott & BR Show XX1090. At 4:00 AM I turned on the light in my office and decided to do some reading.

When the clock ticked over to 5:00 AM Crystal, my wife, got up and started to get ready for work. The dogs looked like they could use some park time so I loaded up the car. After a mile and half walk around the dog park and fun time with the ball I was back at home by 6:00 AM. On the way over I had the radio on and learned that Scott and BR are broadcasting in Vegas this morning.

I hurried up to my office and turned on the computer in order to listen via the internet. 6:15 AM...come on, come on, get to it. My mind starts racing and my heart is pumping. 6:35...next segment is announced by Scott...Cyclist Elimination. 6:40 they are back after commercials and have on the line Nina. Nina was the winner of the immunity pump. She talks a bit about her condition, the daily challenges with pain, and how much fun she is having in this program.

Then, they announce the person, Todd Northup, and my heart sinks and I yell nooooooooooooo. Todd is the other person working with me from the radio contest on the Sushi Cooking Silent Auction event. I didn't want to hear my own name announced but even worse was for it to be Todd. Scott had Todd waiting on the phone and I soon heard his voice. Tears, yes, I had tears.

Todd has become a really good friend is a short period of time. When a another friend, Lan Tran, suggested the Sushi Cooking event as a fund raiser I didn't even think about inviting someone from to team help. Then one weekend while chatting with Todd I felt moved to ask if he wanted to join in. Something inside me said...ask him. He smiled and said sure.

I could hear the disappointment in Todd's voice as he came on the line but he came back with a response that he was out of the contest but not out of the ride. He quickly mentioned that he has been fund raising and gave a plug for our event along with our web site; www.sushi4caf.blogspot.com. As he talked the energy that had been sucked out of me was returning and I found myself sitting up tall and saying yes, yes, yes.

It only took a few minutes but it seemed much longer. I had seen Todd less than 10 hours ago when he stopped by the house to pick up the fliers we had printed. As we sat in my kitchen talking I remember thinking how lucky I was to have met a guy like this, to ride with him and have his help with this sushi event.

As I started to craft this email at 7:00 AM my office phone rang and I knew it was Todd. We talked, shared and realized that it's not about winning this event, though that is important, but in the end it's about CAF. Was he disappointed, you bet, we all want to be the person who is left standing. But he said something really interesting, now he could focus totally on the fund raising and not have to worry about the contest aspects. Check out his blog.

Great job Todd...you are the man.