Peaks, valley's and those little moments.

This post is my thoughts on the progression through life and how I feel that it relates to Ironman. I was recently invited by a good friend of mine to a Colorado Avalanche hockey game. There was a special promotion going on where tickets where cheap and you could stay after the game and play a hockey game on the Pepsi Center ice with referee’s, announcers and the like. You may be saying, so what? Big deal. Well if you were born and raised in Canada and grew up with hockey as your passion (like those of us that view triathlon the same way) you would think it was a pretty big deal. To ice the cake, several of the team members were allowed on the bench during the pre-game warm up and my friend was lucky enough to be one of them. See, this guy loves hockey! And as we stood at club level across the ice from him and watched him snap pictures of his favorite players as the skated around the ice you knew this was a special moment in his life…like a kid going to Disney for the first time. Pretty cool…

During the game I had the good fortune to sit next to my former boss that was ultimately responsible for bringing me to Colorado over 10 years ago. We were exchanging stories about what has been going on in our lives in the last few years since we were last together. He said a couple of things to me that I kept playing back over and over today in my head and had to put them down on paper.

The first thing he said was that life is too short to not be doing something that you were meant to be doing. Most don’t recognize it because that is the way it always has been and some recognize it but choose not to pursue it out of fear of failure. Those that do recognize it and do something about it are truly living life. The second thing he said to me as we where exchanging responses to the usual questions “So how are things? How is the family? Etc, etc, etc…” He said at the end of the day when you look at your journey line through life while it has its peaks and valleys, it will hopefully show an upward trend. We control what we do and how we feel which ultimately controls how high the peaks are and how low the valleys go. Hold that thought.

At the end of the 3rd period we where escorted through a door and out onto the seats of the lower level where we were allowed to sit to watch our friends play hockey. As we waited for them to dress we were all laughing and joking and then I saw my buddy come up to the doors to the ice. Under the bright lights of the Pepsi Center he stood staring out at the ice for a moment. It almost looked as if he was playing professional hockey waiting for his introduction onto the ice. Deep down I know that he has always wanted to play professional hockey and jokes about it constantly but for that one moment in time, it appeared to me that he felt that the dream was coming true. Really cool…

I decided to give him a call today and thank him for allowing me to share in the night and apologize for having to leave early because of the baby sitter back at home. He in turn said that he should be thanking me for sticking around to watch. It was such a special time for him to be able to do that because his friends and family were there watching on. He then said to me that “life is made up of small little moments like this that you live for and this will not be one that I will ever forget.” He gets it.

So you might be asking why I am writing about this. Well I think it bodes well for Ironman. At the end of the day life is a journey and your legacy is the wake you leave behind. You control which direction you go in and the speed at which you do it in. There will always be peaks and valleys along the way. The valleys will no doubt contain pain, grief and suffering and the peaks will be met with moments of joy, elation and sheer satisfaction. Your mindset determines how many of each you have. So as you go through the journey of Ironman remember that while it hurts to climb out of those valleys and up those peaks, when you get to the top of them they are the moments that define who you are. Hopefully it is those moments that you will never forget. As I tie this back to my earlier post on no expectations and little surprises, those moments when you have the perfect day are why we do this but you have to climb out of a lot of valleys in order to experience them.

So in closing, shoot for your goals and never stop climbing…embrace all of the peaks and their corresponding valleys and be sure to celebrate those little moments along the way.

No Expectations, Pleasant Surprises!

I was fortunate enough to be able to run for the second time in the Canyonland's 1/2 Marathon in Moab, UT this past weekend and for me it was truly one of those days that you walk away from feeling like WOW, that is not what I had expected to have happen. For starters, this race is done through a lottery process only and sometimes you get in and sometimes you don't. Luckily for me, I was able to get in 2 years in a row but really did not expect to. The location is so unique and the scenery is so breathtaking that this is really a must do for any running enthusiast so for me to be able to run it twice I feel fortunate.

The family and I decided to leave for Moab on Friday morning and stop for a dip in the mineral hot springs in Glenwood Springs, CO. The kids had an absolute blast. I always heard that natural mineral hot springs had somewhat of a therapeutic effect for those with nagging ailments like a cold or injury...well, I had both so why not? After a couple of hours in the pool we hopped back in the car and made it into Moab in time to pick up our packet's and get to McStiff's for an early dinner. Pizza and a couple of Rock Amber's sounded good considering this was going to be a training day due to my foot dilemma (no run longer then 45 minutes in the last 3 weeks) and an oncoming head cold. To bed early and up at 5:30 am. My cold was gone and my foot felt surprisingly good. I opted for the Newton's, packed my bag, a little breakfast, a couple of cups (ok 4) of coffee and on the bus by 7:45 am for the trip up the canyon. 90 minutes sitting around in the cold (always fun) till the gun blasts at 10:00 am. The goal: keep your form, watch your foot, focus on HR and forget about time. The first mile was very fast for me (6:45 ish) and by mile 3 I was very settled into my pacing strategy. My HR was in check, foot was feeling REALLY good and my pace felt fluid. Mile 10 comes quick and I am not slowing, my form is still good, the foot is hanging tough. Mile 11 we come out of the canyon, take a left and a quick right at the Denny's and there is mile 12...1 mile to go. I decided to hit my lap button so I could not see my time. The race has been a success up to this point, well beyond what I thought I would be capable of doing therefore no need to push the foot, so I pull up slightly and enjoy the stretch into the finish looking for my family. I see my boys pop out from the crowd with those huge smiles filled with absolute excitement that their dad is running towards them. They see you as a champion and could care less about your time. They get high fives and I cross the line just shy of 1:35 for a new PR by over 5 minutes. I can't believe that just happened...what a surprise!

When reflecting on the day, I kept coming back to a conversation I had with Bobby McGee http://www.bobbymcgee.com/ about my running challenges in Ironman and he was offering some suggestions, one being to take the pressure and expectation out of the race and just run the race like a training day. I had zero expectations for this race because of what ailed me in the weeks leading up. I could have cared less what my overall time was going to be. Just being able to run it was enough. But still we all must have goals to push us and validate us. And I am by no means advocating that we don't have them. For any one that knows me, they would think I am nuts if I did but at the end of the day goals are nothing more then estimates or targets that we focus our training objectives around. They will either be hit or missed depending on the variables of the day (and there will always be variables). Either way, they are nothing more then a number that only you are emotionally tied to. The expectations placed on you around your goals are your own and no one elses...so have them but keep it all in perspective and by all means have some fun. After all that is why we do this. For me, this day while it had it's painful moments, it was very much a lot of fun.

So in closing, my advice to my athletes moving forward will be to think of their races as training days, be tactical but be flexible, focus on the process, be 110% in the moment but above all else, expect nothing but the unexpected and as an outcome you may be pleasantly surprised. More importantly though, every race is a learning opportunity and if you happen to have an 'AH HA' moment, then that race was a success regardless of the outcome. For me, this race is one that I will store in the memory banks to be used in future races when the going is tough and I need a little perspective. Days like this give me the confidence to move mountains but most importantly, they are validation for why I love this sport so much...its full of pleasant surprises.