These are the mechanics in my life. When you decide to take a year off, to do the run that I'm training to do, your financial and physical worlds change. These guys are the ones that keep the old parts working. In the top picture you have Harry Duffy and Mike from Duffy Front End Service. The thoughts I had about a new work truck and new personal vehicle went out as the idea of running from Alaska to Florida came in. Harry and Mike are honest, hard working, concerned about the customer, take pride in their work kind of guys. Traveling just to the road races I do involves 1000's of miles of driving each year all by itself. Without them my chances of attending the races would diminish tremendously. My mechanical abilities end at the handle end of a screw driver. Fred Wellman on the other hand has to keep the other old parts working. Fred is my chiropractor. As any athlete I do encounter injuries and also just need to keep aligned to avoid injuries. Fred is in his profession because he truly loves to help people feel better. He searches for the causes of your problems and works on fixing the whole situation not just setting you up with a series of generic appointments to keep you coming back. A true "artist" of his profession. He also has to deal with me. Fred did some adjustments to my back and legs on a Thursday trying to help a hamstring situation. On my way out the door he strongly suggested that I not run the races I had planned for the up coming weekend and let my muscles heal. "No problem" I said. Well that Saturday I ran the 5k AND the 5 miler you read about getting to this blog entry. When I called him the next Monday talking about hamstrings being real tight he asked if I had run over the weekend. "NO of course not" was my response. So we set up a Friday appointment. I talked with him during the week and fessed up to having run JUST the 5k. Well at the appointment and looking him straight in the eyes I confessed. "All right" I blurted out "I did run both races". He quietly said "I knew that" and re-fixed what he had fixed the week before. So without these 3 people in my life all the old parts would have alot more trouble keeping on the roads. THANKS GUYS