Broken Records

Friday and Saturday I worked the Redbull Flugtag event in St. Paul, MN. It was quite possibly the craziest event I have ever been to, let alone worked.

Redbull Flugtag is an event that started in 1991 in Austria (home of Redbull). At this event teams of crazies I mean athletes spend months building flying machines that will be sent off a 30' high flight deck into the water. The goal is to have your craft go as far as possible.

Until Saturday an Austrian team held the world record at 195'. Saturday a team from Minnesota broke the world record and "flew" 207'. You can see the video of that world record flight here.

I spent Friday and Saturday up on the flight deck with hosts Uncle E and Tina Dixon. Really I don't know how to describe this event. On Friday we did a dress rehearsal for our pre-flight show. On Saturday the gates opened at 11:00 with the first craft flying at 1:00. From 11 - 1:00 we did interviews with Red Bull athletes, the Mayor of Saint Paul and watched as two sky divers landed on the flight deck. Once we got to the competition part my main job was to communicate between Paul the head of competition and the TV truck. Paul would let me know when the water was clear for the next flight. It was an amazing/crazy day.

The really exciting thing about this weekend was that I almost didn't take the job out of fear. I have been really tired again and I'm still battling dizziness and an ear infection. Originally I was told that Friday could be a 12 hour day followed by a 10 hour day on Saturday. I knew I could make it through Friday (heck this was a Redbull event after all) but was concerned that I would be too worn out to make it through Saturday.

In May I had gone back to work for one week but the days were shorter so I had plenty of time to rest. I was also working with people who knew what I had been through and were watching out for me.

I'm happy to say I made it through the weekend. Last night by 8:30 I could barely move and this morning I took a nap but during the event itself I had little problems. I got a little tired around 2:00 but I think that was due to being in the sun, adrenaline waning, little to eat and not enough water.

The incredible thing about this weekend was to go to work where I didn't know anyone. Not one person there knew what I have gone through. No one knew that I had lost over 70 lbs. No one was checking in with me to see if I was okay. I FELT NORMAL! It was a very liberating weekend.

The other exciting thing was that Baby Chang and Prairie Dad survived two days without Mom. Purely out of circumstance the longest the two of them had been alone was 5 hours prior to this. Though I was home each night in time to put Baby Chang to bed, Prairie Dad did all the rest. I think the two not only survived but thrived on the time together.

Tomorrow we head back to Houston to pack up the apartment there and move into new digs. It will be nice to have that settled and stop packing and moving finally. Plus we can hit the Y pool daily!

So this weekend was a great weekend of new records:
1. Red Bull Flugtag World Record.
2. Feeling Normal (if only for a couple days)
3. Baby Chang and Prairie Dad alone for two days