Plans change

"So why put yourself through all of this anyways?" A friend asked me this week." Just cancel the race and be done with it!"

Ah. But then the season wouldn't start now would it... Half the fun of racing is the impossible journey you undertake every year. If it were easy, everyone would do triathlons in their sleep and marathons before breakfast but it's not that simple. There are always problems every season: no time to train, missing training partners, injuries, bad health and so on... It makes racing an amazing strategy game where one learns flexibility, creativity and mental toughness. You learn to tunnel through obstacles or ... accept defeat...temporarily. Until next time.

A friend of mine is dating a boxer. They had a date on saturday morning but he had a match friday evening. He told her... "I hope I don't get a concussion tonight". And of course she calls me up and tells me "why would you put yourself through that?" The thing is, I understood only too well why he would: the challenge, facing your fears, the unknown, pushing your limits, seeing how far you can go... It's not for everybody, but it is for me.