I recently got an email from a reader who is going through a very tough time. She was well beyond the point of when it rains it pours. After a recent divorce, bankruptcy, and illness, she was questioning her commitment to race her first half Ironman this year.
And who could blame her? As you well know, as the race gets longer so does the training. One hour fun runs turn into three hour slogs. A nice and easy 20-mile bike ride turns into a must do 80-mile butt burn. The weekly swim quickly becomes a 3000-yard Masters Swim fest at least three times a week.
And not only does the training increase in both intensity and duration, but the cost and complexity of the race also dramatically sky rockets. Who among you all can tell me right here and now what goes in all 5 race bags during the standard Ironman ordeal?
Or who here has spent hours and/or days just trying to get to race? Traveling with a bike has all the grace and elegance of traveling with your baby pet elephant. The only difference is that the typical airline gate clerk can probably actually check in your elephant without making you open and unpack it.
So what did I tell her?
Sometimes the best thing you can do is not race.
When all your training seems to be going downhill…
When you don’t feel the passion just the pain…
When you can’t focus or find the fun…
When your heart and head can’t agree…
When the race becomes a burden, and the burden get’s to be too heavy…
When your head says yes, but your injured body screams no more…
When you see only the trees and never the forest…
When the other side of the mountain turns brown…
When your heart turns cold…
When your bike gets dusty…
When you days are just too short…
When your family, friends or God need you most…
Sometimes the best thing you can do is not race.
So what did I tell her?
Sometimes the best thing you can do is race.
When everything else in life is falling to bits…
When you feel like you have no control over your family, work, eating or health…
When you have so very little to look forward to when you wake up in the morning…
When you need something to jump start your day…
When you need conquer something that seems unconquerable…
When you need a reason to hit the path, pool, and road…
When you want to sleep like there is no tomorrow…
When you want to feel the real power of your muscles and lungs…
When you need to feel in total control of a few precious minutes of the day…
That’s when you have to close your eyes, make a mental fist, and determine that you will go the entire distance no matter what life puts in your way.
You will sweat…
You will suffer…
You will swear…
You will survive and cross that finish line.
You don’t know or care what awaits you on the other side of that line because right now, this instance, the next few hours, days, weeks, and months …the finish line is all that matters.
So what did I tell her?
I wrote back and said that she must absolutely do the race. Sometimes a race can not only become a goal, but indeed is the only goal worth accomplishing.