My Triathlon Adventure

The last 9 months or so have been difficult in terms if schedule. I got a new job, bought a new house, and tried to sell my old one.

There was a lot of work stuff, remodeling, moving, and general hard work. It looks like we have finally sold our house. With the last of the stuff moved out, and the pressing projects at the new house all done, I finally got a chance to work out.

I had a nice easy swim yesterday. It is amazing how far back you can fall in terms of fitness in a short time away from it.

I couldn’t help thinking back to my first swims. I didn’t have the aerobic capacity to finish a single length. Even now, as out of shape as I am, I can string together a few laps with ease.

I’m really happy to be back, and hopefully this will be the start of something big.

On a side note, my left foot has been bothering me for a few months. Mostly when I squeeze it. Have no idea what the issue is, but am going to the doctor to get it cleared before I start any running.

This week we’ll see if I can get a nice bike ride in.

I read this article today, in the New York Times about an ultramarathoner.  He runs massive races of 100 miles or more.  He’s been doing it for 15 years.  The feat is amazing just for those facts alone.  With my current injury the only thing I could think of was, wow, how is he not injured?  I need to do what he’s doing.

I’m not sure I’m ready to be a vegan, but I doubt that’s what’s keeping his knees from giving up.

Sometimes I wonder if strength is mostly physical, or mostly mental?  I know that in reality you need both, but which is most important?

I say this because today I feel strong.  I feel like I could pick up a car, then run a marathon strong.  Of course so far all I’ve done for physical activity is pick up the phone, and walked a few blocks (does typing count) so really I haven’t put this feeling to the test.  But I also can’t exactly figure out why I feel as strong as I do today.  I didn’t do anything special yesterday.  So is it the weather?  We are expecting an unusually warm 70 degrees today, or is the training kicking in?  I don’t know, but whatever it is, I hope I can harness it for a long time to come.  I’m going to need all the strength I can muster to get to my half marathon goal.

There is power in this feeling, what I do with it matters more than anything.

While running yesterday I couldn’t help but think of the enormity of the task I’ve managed to set myself up for when I registered for the Hartford Half Marathon.  I was running along, there in the dark, thinking the R-rated version of “Oh Man” as I approached the 1 and a half mile mark and realized how far a half marathon was in comparison.  It got me thinking about the difficulty of it all.  I don’t think anything is impossible, I strongly feel that with enough work and patience anyone can do anything.  There is proof of that everywhere.

Impossible is a word to be found only in the dictionary of fools.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

Having said that, I never really thought that I would be doing a half marathon.  As I jogged along, alone with my thoughts, I came to a realization.  What I was doing, running 3 miles, seems impossible to someone.  There are millions of people who can look at what I was doing that that dark and frigid night and think to themselves, I could never do that.  Most of those people will resign themselves to that thought process and will continue to sit on the sofa and watch TV.  They will consider the very task that I was completing impossible.  But a small number of those people will stand up and say I want to do that.  Those people will not only try, but they will succeed.

Some of the world’s greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible.

–Doug Larson

What I realized in that moment was that everyone, be they a seasoned professional athlete or a weekend warrior, faces the same demons of self doubt and the fear of falling short of their goals.  For me it is finishing the half marathon, for them it may be getting a PR, or coming in first.  In either case the passion, yes even the glory, is in fighting that demon, in proving to yourself that anything is possible.  It is showing the people who say it can’t be done that it will be done.  The race, the competition, it is a personal journey, in the end we each walk alone, and the true winner is the one who does what can’t be done just because they were told it was impossible.

It always seems impossible until its done.
–Nelson Mandela