My Le Mans Experience

I did something this weekend that I can honestly say I have never done...I watched sports all weekend. Okay, so it was just ONE sport, but still, for a girl who only watches sports during the summer Olympics, this is a big thing for me.

I watched Patrick and his teammates, Joe Foster and Don Kitch Jr. race at Le Mans...And I watched the entire thing! ALL 24 hours!

I have to admit, I had some nerves about watching the race. Those of you that know me know that one of my worst fears is Patrick being injured during a race. It's one thing to know he's racing and to pray for him but not actually SEE what's going on, it's QUITE another to SEE everything that's happening, live! It was quite nerve wracking at times. Please know that for me this was a first...I've NEVER gotten to see Patrick race before and it was LE MANS so it was pretty emotional on all fronts. There is no way I will ever remember everything and as soon as I post this, I know there will be something I forgot to add so just bear with me because as I write this I haven't slept since 7:15 Saturday morning. Along the way I will share some of my favorite pics with you(All of them courtesy of the Team Seattle Facebook Page or various other sites. I definitely wasn't one of the lucky ones there in person so none of these are mine). They won't necessarily correspond with what I write. In fact, none of them do, but I tried to come close.

First off, did you know Patrick is a blogger? Yep! He blogged throughout the week leading up to the race. It was so awesome to see things through his eyes. And the best part...Readers could leave comments! Who knows if Patrick read them, but I commented on every single blog...Hoping.

I'm not going to go hour by hour but just touch on what were the highlights for me. The first moment that sticks out was an interview Patrick did right after his first leg of the race. I wish I had a snap shot for you of the pure excitement on his face, he was practically giddy and grinning from ear to ear. Brought tears to my eyes. Had to be one of the cutest interviews I've ever seen. His face had to hurt from smiling so much...He was absolutely drinking it in.
Every time Joe, Don, or Patrick were interviewed, they said how incredible it was to be there and how they were just honored and thankful for the chance to be at Le Mans. Such humble and gracious guys. Every lap they completed raised money for Seattle Children's Hospital and it was evident they wanted to raise as much money as they could for the hospital.
For me, the most anxious moment came early Sunday morning (in France. In the US it was still Saturday night) Patrick was behind the wheel, doing his thing and there came word that there was a serious accident. It was dark, of course so for a few moments no one was sure who it was. And for those few moments...I was a wreck. It didn't take long to identify who it was, but it felt like ages. It wasn't Patrick and the odds that it would have been him were slim, and I knew that, but still...My worst fear guys...I was still shaking twenty minutes after. They driver involved in the wreck was pulled from the car and taken to the hospital, and it turns out he's fine, but looking at what was left of the car, it's a miracle. I was texting and tweeting everyone I knew to pray. Patrick safely pitted a few minutes later.
The night was long as some twitter friends and I kept each other going while we cheered on the team. Don, bless his heart, was sick with a severe chest cold so he didn't get a lot of time behind the wheel. Patrick and Joe took turns racing for two hours at a time throughout the night. When Patrick came out for his next stint, he was apparently asked by someone off camera if he had slept, and he told them, "No way! I'm too excited to sleep!" It was then that I told someone I was tweeting with that if Patrick hadn't slept, WE certainly couldn't! LOL! That just seemed to stiffen our resolve to stay awake with them through the end. We really got excited as we watched the team continue to climb in their class rank.

A few anxious moments when Patrick had to make an unscheduled pit stop to fix something on the car and he stayed there for what seemed like ages to us and I'm sure even longer to him. We were afraid they would slip out of the top ten and kept saying willing them to hurry by talking to our televisions (or was I the only one doing that guys? LOL) saying, "Please hurry!" "Work faster!" FINALLY Patrick was off again and they were still in the top ten but by a smaller margin. A twitter friend of mine said, "Don't worry, Speedy Joe is up soon (her nickname for Joe Foster that still makes me giggle) he'll help make up ground." So, Zoom Zoom Paddy (the nickname I came up with for PD because of his Mazda "the zoom zoom way" voice overs) finished his stint, and Speedy Joe took the wheel. Soon, they were ninth in their class! We were ecstatic!

I have to say, it was really odd to be watching coverage and see the sun coming up there while it was still the very early morning hours here. Speaking of that, on Patrick's blog for Friday, he mentioned that his body wasn't sure what time it was and he was awake when he should be sleeping, and tired when he needed to be alert. So, as I went to bed Friday, I prayed that Patrick would get a great night's rest. I forgot all about the time difference and the fact that as I was praying that prayer, it was already race day for Patrick! LOL! Thank goodness God knew I was going to pray that prayer ahead of time and answered it early. Sorry about that, Patrick! I DO hope you got a great night's rest before race day!

Seven o'clock my time Sunday morning brought what is, in my opinion, the most emotional interview I've ever seen Patrick give. As he and Don talked to a reporter the reporter made mention that he could see in Patrick's eyes how much this experience meant to him...It was then that Patrick nodded and from my view seemed to tear up and get emotional. That's all it took for me to start crying...Again, these guys were THRILLED to be there. At Le MANS for cryin' out loud! It doesn't get any better!

The race ended at 8:00 a.m. this morning. Patrick, Joe, and Don came in 30th overall and 9th in their class. AND...They raised 258,800 for Seattle Children's Hospital!! How incredible is that?! GO TEAM SEATTLE!!!!

Now, here's why this race was an experience for me and such an emotional one at that...

Patrick, Joe, and Don were in Paris France. At Le Mans. That's big. It's HUGE. And it's a dream come true for all of them. It's emotional for me because as I watched them race, I watched their dream come true...I mean literally saw it coming true hour by hour as they gave interviews and with each stint they completed, more of their dream just continued to unfold. If you've read this blog any than you probably know what my dream is...For my story to get to Patrick and be able to thank him personally for how his story changed my own. You also know how I'd pretty much given up hope that that will ever happen. I watched videos of the team in France throughout the week and the throngs of people just wanting an autograph from Patrick and I looked at the sea of people and thought, "that's why I feel this is a dream going nowhere...I'm just another fan, in a sea of faces. There's no way I can just travel to his races on my own because of my disability, I'd have to have a way to get there. Yes, meeting Patrick and thanking him is my dream, but I know there's very little hope that it will.

As I watched Team Seattle's dream unfold before my eyes, I can't help but feel a spark of renewed hope that my story WILL somehow get to Patrick....If they can get to Le Mans....My story can get to Patrick. It's a spark of hope that I needed and that I'll hang on to. I want my own "Le Mans Moment" so to speak, where I see my dream unfolding.

So, yet again, I'm teary as I type this up. I have to thank some people that kept me going last night: @zennish, @pdempseyfansite, @GraveDancer40, @Evie_89, @pickmeforever, @PD_EP_FAN, @adene626 and Kara.

you guys were a blast to experience this with!! Definitely made some new friends....And twitter hasn't been quiet since! Thanks for helping keep me awake last night as we cheered on our guys together! It really was so much fun! Same time, same place next weekend for Patrick's next race? LOL! Seriously, you guys are great...Loved spending those 24 hours with you!

Thank you to EVERYONE who kept Patrick, Joe, and Don in your prayers this weekend...God was definitely protecting them and blessing them the entire time!

Congratulations once again to Joe, Patrick, and Don....You lived the dream....You raced at Le Mans! And we're all so happy and proud for you and thrilled that we got to take the journey with you! It was a complete honor to spend "24 Hours at Le Mans" with you.