This beast is the bane of my existence. Mine is a monster. Someone made it before I even started here and went a little weld happy. It's made of all bed materials (except the wheels, obviously), while other beds, like Nicole's, are part bed, part bike. So much lighter and so much more efficient. As efficient as you can get with a bed with wheels.
The morning started out with me praying for a miracle that the bed will stay in one piece and that no one gets hurt. Then, one of my girls and I put the wheels on the bed. Wheels with flat tires. No prob! We have a bike pump. After three years of doing this, I came prepared. We had just enough time to pump up the tires, get the racers ready, and do one test run. The spirit and energy that my girls had reminds me of why I love my job!
After bed blessings (yup, we bless everything at Catholic schools), my girls lifted the bed to put it on the trailer and one of the wheels fell off. My heart sank. They got it back on there and moved on. While it was on the trailer, one of the rods that was holding the far right wheel fell off. I panicked at this point. It turned out okay because our Monster has more wheels than is necessary. The wheel was also attached to the other rod. It looked safe enough to keep going.
Of course I had to give them the safety talk. "If the tires start falling off, just stop! Just stop! I'll come get you." I think they got it.
Half an hour after this incident, the boys and co-ed team turned the corner to get into campus and cross the finish line. A minute or two later, the girls came. A couple minutes after the girls, I feared the worst. My girls were nowhere close. I started walking towards the street to see where they were. On my way there, I see my girls turning the corner singing and pushing our still-intact-bed. I breathed a sigh of relief and started screaming to get them pumped. We were last...as always. It's "tradition." Happy to continue it.
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