Starting to think I have it in for myself.
When I was 23, I did a triathlon. I woke up one morning, saw a race on tv, and signed up. For the five years that followed I always had a race of some type in front of me. For the most part, those races were about having something planned. I never fully engaged in training. But 6 out of 7 of those races, I finished.
There is something very refreshing about signing up for something new. There's the clean slate feeling you get at the fact that you've not cheated the training yet. There's the hope that you could out-perform your wildest dreams. There is an excitement that you're embarking on a fantastic journey.
I miss racing. Its been a few years since I've done one. I started thinking the other day about how much I'd like to do one, and do it right. I started daydreaming about how great those times were.
Those race courses are hallowed ground. People have worked for months and months to be able to travel the distance. There are always people from all walks of life covering those roads. There are people in those crowds who have battled through disease, through the loss of a loved one, through weightloss, with broken bodies, emotional and spiritual obstacles...And we are all there running as one big body, united to cross the finish line. I've always been in the bottom quarter of long races. When I would cross the finish line and grab a banana, I could turn around and see the people behind me. Everyone knows the biggest heart of any race is the last wave of people. I would always tear up at watching those people cross their finishline. There is something very precious and spiritual going on at those races.
The truth is though, that those races dont begin at 5am on chilly mornings with a gun shot in the air. They begin when you decide to tackle the course. When you say, Hmm..I think I'd like to do a marathon, or half, or triathlon. They start the day your heart commits. The journey winds its way through training plans, and grumpy runs, and catching colds, and being out of town, injuries, stretching, eating right, sour stomachs, leg cramps, losing sleep, solitude on the road, new playlists, new shoe blisters, and being chased by strange dogs.
Race day, well, thats just the end of the journey.
Thats why I signed up again.
Yikes.
There is something very refreshing about signing up for something new. There's the clean slate feeling you get at the fact that you've not cheated the training yet. There's the hope that you could out-perform your wildest dreams. There is an excitement that you're embarking on a fantastic journey.
I miss racing. Its been a few years since I've done one. I started thinking the other day about how much I'd like to do one, and do it right. I started daydreaming about how great those times were.
Those race courses are hallowed ground. People have worked for months and months to be able to travel the distance. There are always people from all walks of life covering those roads. There are people in those crowds who have battled through disease, through the loss of a loved one, through weightloss, with broken bodies, emotional and spiritual obstacles...And we are all there running as one big body, united to cross the finish line. I've always been in the bottom quarter of long races. When I would cross the finish line and grab a banana, I could turn around and see the people behind me. Everyone knows the biggest heart of any race is the last wave of people. I would always tear up at watching those people cross their finishline. There is something very precious and spiritual going on at those races.
The truth is though, that those races dont begin at 5am on chilly mornings with a gun shot in the air. They begin when you decide to tackle the course. When you say, Hmm..I think I'd like to do a marathon, or half, or triathlon. They start the day your heart commits. The journey winds its way through training plans, and grumpy runs, and catching colds, and being out of town, injuries, stretching, eating right, sour stomachs, leg cramps, losing sleep, solitude on the road, new playlists, new shoe blisters, and being chased by strange dogs.
Race day, well, thats just the end of the journey.
Thats why I signed up again.
Yikes.
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