Rocket Encounter

Today was an exciting day for me. As part of the marathon tomorrow, I had to go to the GRB convention center to get my race packet. I knew that Roger Clemens would be making an appearance at the Expo. The expo was officialled called the Roger Clemens Memorial Hermann Sports Medicine Expo or something like that. I thought it would be cool to see him, but didn't put much more thought into it than that.

While I was walking through the crowd and exhibits, I saw a big Memorial Hermann area in the middle. As I looked closer I saw a especially large gathering there and then noticed Roger Clemens himself standing in the middle of it all. I thought cool, I can tell my family that I saw Roger and went on to get the rest of my stuff.

Fast forward a few minutes. I'm getting ready to walk out when I see my friend from church, Frank Brown, near the Memorial Hermann area. Frank is a good friend of ours from church, so I headed that way to say hi. As I'm walking closer I see that he is in the midst of a conversation with you guessed it, ROGER CLEMENS. My heart starts racing because I realize I now have a chance to actually meet Roger! I quickly planned my strategy. I walked up close to the rope that was separating Frank and Roger from the regular people. I stood there waiting and sending mental messages to Frank hoping he'll see me. Thankfully, Frank was listening. He looked up, saw me and waved for me to come over. As I walked up, someone actually pulled down the rope keeping the crowd back so that I could walk in where Roger was.

The rest was great. Frank introduced me to Roger Clemens and his agent, Randy Hendricks. I go to shake Roger's hand. He commended me for running the marathon. I wish I could say that I had something great to say to him. That I said something to make him come back to the Astros to pitch this year, but I didn't. I just said how great it was to meet him as my heart beat faster than I ever imagined it would.

Looking back on it, it is a big boost to think that I am competing in an athletic event that an athlete like Roger Clemens is impressed by!

On that, I'm off to bed with a stomach full of carbs to get a few hours of sleep before my big morning.