Thomas' First Trip to the Pub

Last night we took Thomas out to a local bar, not because we wanted to role model bad behaviour, but to join others to watch my childhood friend Simon Whitfield compete in the triathlon at the Beijing Olympics. Any of you who know triathlons will know him as the man who won the gold medal in this event in Sydney in 2000. When we were growing up a bunch of us would play pick-up soccer together fairly regularly. Simon always wanted the game to keep going, no matter how late or dark it was ("Come on, come on, next goal wins ... okay, now next goal wins ... that one doesn't count, next goal wins.")

The gathering had been organized by Simon's sister Kate and we were thrilled to see the place packed with his fans. Once the race started, Simon moved strategically through the swim and bike (aided by his teammate Colin Jenkins). Near the end of the run he began to pick up the pace, and then, at a critical moment, just as the commentators were saying that he was fading, he pulled ahead of the lead pack in the last stretch (vintage Simon). The place went absolutely wild, with screaming and clapping, and Thomas wasn't quite sure that he liked it. Mandy pointed out to him that I was clapping too and that seemed to convince him that a complete meltdown wasn't necessary. Anyhow, at the very last moment Simon was overtaken by Jan Frodeno of Germany and he crossed the line shortly after, earning himself a well-deserved silver. I laughed and cried at the same time, just like I did when Simon won in Sydney. We stayed through to the end of the medal ceremony, and then beat a hasty retreat to get Thomas to bed since by that point he was getting increasingly out of sorts.

Anyhow, it was a new experience for Thomas and we told him that he could learn lots from what Simon did that night by showing patience, determination, class, and good sportsmanship.