Elmhurst Trip Day 3

Day 3 Saturday September 20, 2008

Today was my Courts Plus appearance day!!!!!!!!!!!!! I actually got to sleep in since I did not have to be in Elmhurst until 9am. Brian McDermott and his associates at Courts Plus went out of their way in making me feel welcomed! Weeks before I arrived in Elmhurst they ran several articles in news papers announcing that I was coming, they posted fliers up around the club and they printed of pictures for me to sign. They set up a great schedule I signed autographs and met people from 9:15-10am, a motivational speech from 10:30-11:15am, group workout from 11:15-12noon and a fully Bobsled presentation from noon-1pm.

The event went off as planned the crowd was smaller than I had imagined, but it was probably better that way because I was able to spend a little more one on one time with the kids and parents that were there. I showed them how to stretch and warm up before they lift, and also the proper way to execute several weight lifting exercises.

Once I was done at Courts Plus Doc Jev picked me up and we went buy the Princeton House which is part of the Ray Graham Association For People With Special Needs. The guys we met were pretty excited that we came by. They were a cool bunch of guys, they talked about what they were doing and how their day was going. One of the guys named Ray was upset because he had just come to the house and his parents forgot to bring him his toys so he had nothing to play with. It was a humbling experience meeting these guys, forcing me to realize how much we tend to take things for granted in life. I am not even sure I can explain the feeling but it one of those things that just make you think! I signed some pictures for them and we wished them a good night.
We made a few more runs around town where Doc continued to introduce me to people he knew. We stopped by one of his friends houses who were celebrating their son’s 21st birthday. They invited us in for dinner like we were long lost cousins, it was amazing the food was GREAT, I could have eaten there all evening but I had to go workout. Which is what I did, after we ate Doc Jev went home and I went to go workout. By the way it is not a good ideal to lift weights after gorging yourself on food five minutes before you hit the gym! LoL Yeah I was definitely feeling the repercussion of my actions! But the way the food tasted I would do it again.Hahaha