Flash forward... the Saturday before Danskin, as I was racking my bike, I heard a psssshhhh sound. As I looked down the row of bikes, I saw the front tire of a beautiful Trek triathlon bike go totally flat. Perhaps it was the heat or too much air, but I was horrified. How terrible that the owner of this bike was not there and might not find out about her flat until she arrived the next morning.  

So, I took her bike number into the RecPlex and asked the Danskin volunteers if they could help contact her. Much to my dismay, they could not help me. However, that was not going to be the end of this story. Upon the suggestion of another friend who was with me, I went online when I got home. I looked up the woman's name on the Danskin roster and found that her hometown was nearby. Luckily, I found her phone number in directory assistance! So, I called and left a message about her flat tire.

The woman never called me back on Saturday. However, when I arrived at Danskin on Sunday morning, I was happy to see that her tire was fixed. She had not yet arrived at the race, so I assumed she had come on Saturday to repair it. I went through my triathlon and continued to think about her - happy that perhaps I helped her avoid a fairly challenging day!

Then, much to my surprise, I received the most beautiful phone message on Monday afternoon from a woman with a warm and gentle voice. She introduced herself as the woman whose bike tire had gone flat. "If you had not called me", she said, "I would have dropped out of the race. When I got your call, it was late in the afternoon on Saturday and I had to go to the bike store to get a replacment tube and tools. I didn't have any of that! I went back up to the site and had enough time to fix my bike. On Sunday, I was so late from the traffic, I didn't get to transition until 6:30am. There is no way I would have been able to fix my bike on time had I found it flat when I arrived on Sunday. This was my first triathlon and I had been training for quite a while. You allowed me to participate in something I'd only been dreaming about until then."

Well, you can imagine how great I felt getting this message. To me, this is the magic of Danskin. You never know quite what you will learn or what connection you will make with another woman. Turns out, my premonition about a flat tire had nothing to do with ME, it was about someone else. I am so glad I had the opportunity to participate in something so special and to make a magical connection with a woman I may never even see again.

Love to all you women who I know I will see again... and, I hope if your tire ever goes flat, you'll have someone close by to help you, too.

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