Benn has something I will never have. No I don't mean his 2008 Olympic ring. That mostly stays at my house. I can have it any time I want it. Everybody pretty much knows I take credit for it anyway. I mean Benn has a friend he's known since they were two years old. Dave is his name. Dave came to Olympic Trials this year having never seen Benn race before. Dave coming added a whole new flavor to trials. We had to explain a few things to him. For instance we had to explain that winning Olympic Trials in Benn's sport doesn't mean you go to the Olympics. It means you're one of three remaining candidates and you go into the final race with a slight edge over the other two.
Dave bought into that. He wasn't overly concerned about the logistics. He was just making up for 12 or so years of never having seen his lifelong friend actually do his thing. Dave got to the course pretty excited just as Benn was about to do his first run on day 1. I was in my usual state of pre-competition adrenaline over-dose. I would usually bro-hug with Dave after a long time without seeing him, but this time I was on my way to the top of the course. He asked, "Where do you sit." I didn't even slow down as I ran by him. "I don't sit," I yelled over my shoulder. "I run." Dave caught on quickly because after a successful first place finish on that first run, Benn saw Dave on the bank before he saw anybody else. Dave ran all the way down the course just like the rest of us.
I was somewhat more relaxed after Benn had one in the bank. Dave and Benn and Bailey and I hung out with each other and some paddling friends and watched the other boat classes race. We did that until it was time for Benn to race again. They do two runs each day. By this time Dave was into it. He showed many of the same adrenaline symptoms that I had. Dave and Bailey and I ran Benn down the course together to another successful first place finish. We watched some racing. We did an interview. We forgot to tell Dave it might not happen this way every day. We prepared to do it again the second day, and I relaxed significantly.
Maybe I relaxed too much. Maybe Benn relaxed too much. At any rate, by the end of 2nd run day 2, I was ready to sit with Charlie Brown, the team Sports Psychologist. No seriously, that's his name. He gets that a lot. Things hadn't gone well for Benn on day 2. After one of Benn's runs Dave saw Benn paddling across the pool at the bottom of the course alone. He knew like the rest of us that Benn was disappointed. Benn has never hidden his disappointment very well. Dave asked if Benn was coming back. I said, "Not this time, for a while." He asked, "Is it okay to talk about it?" Bailey told him, "Dave, you've known him 21 years. You don't know anything about the sport. You came to Charlotte to watch and support. I think you have a free pass to say whatever you want." That wasn't true for the guy who wanted to do an interview this day. Benn did, however give the guy one of my all time favorite Benn quotes. The interviewer asked, "How do you feel about today?" Benn looked hesitant and somewhat pained. I think the guy knew his timing was bad, so he quickly added, "Just two words." Benn took a long breath and asked, "Is disaster two words?"
Marsha had arrived at the course just in time to see Benn abort his second run and float to the finish line in frustration. She was okay though. She had only left school as fast as she could after CRCT testing, driven four and a half hours, with time tacked on for heavy traffic twice, excited to see her boy race. No big deal. Fortunately his first run had been okay and he finished the day in second place.
Based on the number of questions he asked I believe Dave was nearly as nervous on day 3 as I was. Maybe he was not quite as bad. I don't know if he was wondering whether the contents of his stomach would make it to the end of the first run. I was, and I think Bailey and Marsha and Angela were right there with me. Have I mentioned Angela? She is another paddler parent. We paddler parents suffer together during Team Trials and understand each other. I mention Angela specifically because she spoke for all of us paddler parents that day. The first time I saw Angela on day 3 she said something appropriate; not good morning, not great weather, not awesome crowd today. She said, "One more #$@ %&*< day of trials." I understood.
Angela's son Bug did well that day and will be competing in the final race with Benn, so Angela felt better. Benn put the rest of us at ease quickly. His first run was good enough to make the second one irrelevant. He won by a large margin.
I think Dave caught the fever. It's not just how much Dave enjoyed the race that makes me think so. It is that I'm sitting here a few days after Trials looking at Dave's car parked in front of my house. Benn's car is gone and two boats are gone. I think Benn took Dave to paddle for his first time. I can't wait to hear how it went.
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