I think I just ran off track. Now I have some scary movie I have never seen playing through my mind. Whomever it was that stated the common truths about athletes having some serious mental differences, I hereby agree!
We do. We are. Thank goodness for that. The world would be much more pathetic if no one ever tri-ed.
Let’s note that I do love the man very much for all he has done, for sport but more so for cancer- yet I have disagreed with Lance before in this blog. Since he still hasn't called to prove his point (ha ha) I do believe that I am right on this one: Endurance athletes are not running FROM something, we are running TOWARDS something.
It's the common cycle of my own life that makes me right and Lance wrong. Hence I ask for your feedback, perhaps I am not the only one? Go back through the periods of your training, please; perhaps you too will find that when you had a big goal, something huge to accomplish outside of triathlon, that's when the endurance athlete in you justified cheating your program, and simply went long.
LSD Long slow distance. When there are big goals ahead and I begin to take action towards reaching them, I morph into the ultramarathon runner I was really born to be. It's a new year, with new goals, with a lot of work ahead... call me Karnazes!
The new business is proving to be much 'bigger' than I ever could have imagined. It's also given me more time to train. Yet every week, I sit and review my tri training program, I clean my bike (she's on the trainer, but I'm a bit neurotic) and yet all I want to do is run. I'm just running. I run to the bank. To the office. To the store. I run for an excuse to get away from the computer, to leave the cell phone (which broke and I have yet to replace) at home. I download the latest Motion Traxx (total plug right there- check it out on iTunes FREE!) and I just go. The boys of IM Talk are back so I downloaded the newest on the pod as well. I've listened to it 3 times this week- while running. I'm no longer fast, but I'm not injured not sore not thinking that it's an icy barren jungle with wind gusts that would snap a kite... I'm just running free. (fully clothed, but free as in YAHOO!)
Just yesterday on a webinar I referred to myself as a triathlete and I felt like the biggest fraud. I am doing all my tri friends a disservice thinking I stand amongst them. In the season of my life story right now, (get a Kleenex….......) I am a runner.
GASP...................... EXHALE....................... DO I HAVE NO HEART?????
I said it. It used to give me so much pride. I adore my runner friends. Yet right now, as I'm watching the sun peek between the clouds and my legs are twitching just to hit the packed snow for 2hrs, admitting that totally saddens me.
Life really is bittersweet.
Goals can give you a finish line, allowing you to periodize your season so that the ultimate dream is attainable. The WHY's will get you to take action. We proceed in solitude, knowing our mission, hoping to find a few cheerleaders and mentors along the way. I have spent my adult life studying triathlon. The history, the good the bad and the ugly. I am obsessed with the sport, and I do believe it loves me very much. It's been kind and generous, and I know we will meet again. What I had last season was the ultimate friendship. It led me to greatness. It made me a better person. It gave me the courage I was desperately searching for. Yet seasons change.
On this journey, along these Yellow Bricks, it seems I have now lost my heart.... So I'm putting a leash on Toto and taking him out for a run; maybe, just maybe, when we finally get to the wizard, he will very surprisingly be a Kenyan after all...
Train safe.
In every journey there will be stumbles, we will stub our toes on a rock, or fall over in the snow (my personal favourite).
ReplyDeleteWe will question our own wisdom as we push ourselves to breaking point, however, what separates the good from the Great is an unerring self belief and determination to achieve our goals.
So you run more than you TRI, absence makes the heart grow fonder, be a runner, you are not unfaithful to the sport you love, TRI needs runners, just as it needs swimmers and cyclists. Running is simple one foot infront of the other, one step at a time TOWARDS a goal.
Being a triathlete does not mean that you can forget the simplicity of running, so Run, Run and Run some more... in no doubt that your Triathlete inside your heart is benefiting!!
I have only known you for a very short time but I am inspired by you, I admire the work that you do and the fun you are having with life!
Enjoy and Celebrate!
You are making a difference to the sport you love, the people in your life and the world that surrounds you, running is the best way to experience that world.... Why?... Its just SIMPLE.
Triathlon is in your heart and always will be, running is not an affair, its the friend that brings you flowers (or chocolate) after the day has been a tough one. SMELL THE FLOWERS!
Ian
Ian - I heart u. thank you!
ReplyDeleteYeah..resonation to the core..And the way my own seasons have been turning, Running IS the ultimate, the slow burn, long distance thing is where it's all at, if you ask me!Used to outrun all my runner friends, the ones that sneered at my speed,then they turned themselves into a lot of brush fires, or simply left the tracks silently..while I just put 1 foot in front of the other, flying slow, but soulo, and oh so hi there, ecstatically to my own drummer..In fact, I'm in the Temporary per-ma frost above the 44th here, so I even let the running go..but once a runner, it's in your blood.. baby stepping through da landscape, past them ice hotels,and all the while reveling in the grand knowledge, the GREAT WHY that drives all life..deep beneath the frozen surface..all LIFE, as true runners know,is interconnected and eternally alive.._So, nix the bittersweet (>beautiful shrub,btw,I had masses with its orange/red berries once:) and partake in the GRAND SYMPHONY of Life and Love eternal..__not into stubbing toes, Sir Burns, lol, so sloooow is ultra sensation, Awareness & Beauty, if you ask me..Take Tondy by the leash & REVEL...must have been quite the season past..I would feel utterly humbled if that were ever directed N.._Here, I SEE the colors of the crocuses, the swaying of the little snow drops, the deep purple hyacinths..I truly SEE them, under their white embrace..GO RUN, U2..lol/// on another note I am just itching to write about a true miracle, absolute miracle I have been witnessing...talk about the FORCE of Life...another time, perhaps..& yes, it's about ..well..plants
ReplyDeleteTo Anonymous: Thank you, for your insight & for making me smile. The GREAT WHY is to be found, most times, in the LSD of a weekend morning. Today it is -32 outside- I might have a new WHY once I return in a few hours..... Please do write about, well, plants.
ReplyDeleteWhen we aim to inspire & help others... roses bloom...
thank you. stay warm.
Don't write letter for a long time. Anyway, it look good!
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wow, I had no idea. bravo sister..
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