Virginia Transplant Games recap

About 4 weeks ago Rob participated in the first ever Virginia Transplant Games. It was a really fun event and I think it did a great job promoting organ donation and transplantation.

We made a fun weekend out of the event, which was held in and around Richmond, Virginia, which is only 150 miles away from where live. I found us a great hotel through Priceline for pretty cheap, and we checked in on Friday evening. Traveling with an infant gets easier each time, and we're almost pros at it now! This is Eliza's 6th major trip since birth to somewhere far enough away that a hotel is required (Roanoke, Asheboro, West Jefferson, California, Oregon, and now Richmond). Once we were settled in, had dinner, and put Eliza to bed, Rob picked up his Mom from the airport. Rob's Mom flew in from San Diego for the Transplant Games and to visit us for the week after the Games. We had a lot of fun celebrating Rob's new kidney and renewed life, in addition to meeting other transplant recipients and donor families from around the country.

The Games began at 8am with a 5K cross country run/walk event that was open to the public. All other events were only open to those who had received transplants or were living donors themselves. Rob and I did the 5K walk with Eliza in the B.O.B. stroller. There were maybe 2 or 3 other people with kids in jogging strollers. It sure was a tough course for a stroller! The first loop (the first mile) went around the athletic fields at a new high school, and you know what "new" means for trails - bumpy! In addition to the bumpiness, most of this mile was off-camber, anywhere from 30 to 45 degrees on some parts! At one point, it got so tough that Rob and I just picked up the B.O.B. and carried it over the trail. We ended up losing our Cateye Mity cycle computer face somewhere along this loop. Grrr. I like my computer on the stroller because of the statistics it keeps for me as I walk with Eliza.

Here's a slideshow of pictures from the day:

Wow, I wish there was a way to slow down the speed of the slideshow. That first picture's title is so long that it doesn't even spell it all out before it switches to the next pic in the slideshow! Oh well, I guess that's what I get for free on Photobucket. That first picture shows an 8 year old girl releasing one of the doves. After she released that one, 12 more followed from the cage. I was curious about the history of dove release, but didn't find out anything about until just now as I'm writing this. Thanks Wikipedia, you're the greatest thing on the internet. Wow, dove releases actually kind of stink, now that I've read that entry on Wikipedia. Poor doves...they are bred in captivity and then when they're set free, they just become dinner for some hungry owl or a hawk. I'm so not craving eating a slab of steak right now. Maybe some celery and peanut butter...

Anyway, after the opening ceremonies, we did the 5K walk. I think it took us about 1 hour and 8 minutes to finish. It was fun, that is, after that first mile loop that was crazy hard with a stroller. Rob and I just talked about anything and everything, and Eliza concentrated on her eyelids the whole time.

After the 5K, Rob ran 2 track events. The 200 meter dash and the 50 meter dash. Here is the video of Rob running the 200:



And the 50:



That fast guy who came in first in the 200 race? He was a liver transplant recipient. And he was obviously a very good runner before the transplant. He even brought his running spikes and his own starting block.

And in the 50 race, Rob was pretty bummed that he got beat by a blue jean wearing Paul Giamatti. Seriously, I was gonna tell him I loved him in Sideways and ask for his autograph!

After Rob's running events finished, we all grabbed lunch at the event. There was delicious food there for all the athletes and donor families. Then we went to the Midlothian Family YMCA nearby for the swimming events. Rob swam in the 100 meter Free and the 100 meter Free Relay. Here are those videos:



Little did we know that the tall guy swimming next to Rob in the 100 Free lives in Durham! Rob started a conversation with him between the 2 events. His name is Brian and he's one of the pastors at Grey Stone Baptist near downtown. How cool is that? He is a heart transplant recipient and he's been to the US Transplant Games many times and also has gone to the World Transplant Games, too. His main sport of choice is swimming (as you can see in the video, he's pretty good), so of course I had to ask him what Masters swim team he practices with. He obviously didn't swim with the team that I coach, but hopefully I can reel him in to join us!

Here's the 100 Free relay, which Rob was the lead off swimmer.



And finally, here's the awards ceremony for the 100 Free Relay:



That's all the photos and videos I took of the event. It was a great event and Rob says he wants to participate in it again, in October 2013, when they will hold it again.