Sunday, July 31, 2011

Going around those walls...

“The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough.” Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

Someone call 911. My body was apparently hit by a very large truck, filled with angry elves, who took turns kicking and punching me while I slept. That’s exactly how I felt like when I stepped out of bed at 5 o’clock this morning.

The longer distances of training for the Half Ironman have caught up with me. Funny thing is, this week I started to feel a little more confident about my ability – especially on the bike. There is not one discipline I am really strong in, but the bike gives me hope! I am currently slow – but I think by September I might be upgraded to less slow! For me, that is a relatively short amount of time to see improvement.

So here I am, feeling more confident, actually starting to wonder which Half Ironman clothing I might buy at the Expo. What kind of 70.3 sticker will I get for the car?? What will I EAT when the race is done?? And then today... Instead of feeling like I’m at top of my game, I was feeling more like the bottom of a car tire! (Actually I think my car tires covered less miles than me this week!)

I’ve trained for enough races to know that crappy days and brick walls are all part of the formula. Someone reminded me, “It’s a triathlon, it’s supposed to be hard!” Thankfully, I’ve also experienced the complete euphoria of finishing a personally challenging tri. So I can dig deep and remind myself, those walls were just meant for someone else who doesn’t want this badly enough.

(*Celebrating with Caroline after my first triathlon - Pineapple Man June 2008)

1 comment:

  1. Awesome post my amazing friend - can't wait to congratulate you as an HIM finisher!!!

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