Bravery is the capacity to perform properly even when scared half to death.
-- Omar N. Bradley

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

The Starting Line

There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting. -- Buddha


And here begins my quest to avoid at least one mistake.  I am at the starting line.  In just over seven months, I hope to be crossing the finish line of my first half-ironman (HIM) distance triathlon.  I will swim 1.2 miles, bike 58 miles, and run 13.1 consecutively.  (Usually the bike is 56 miles - the course of the race I've chosen is a titch long.)  72.3 miles.  In one day.

I've done a handful of sprint triathlons, nearly 10 half-marathons, and one marathon.  I also started an Olympic distance triathlon that I did not finish.  Completing HIM would be a big accomplishment for me -- not impossible, but a truly difficult task.  It will take a lot of training and focus over the next seven months.  It will also take a lot of juggling of my personal and professional lives.  Oddly enough, this is what is drawing me to the challenge.

Earlier this year, at the start of 2013, a radio station I listen to asked listeners to pick their "Word of the Year."  What word will define my actions and my thoughts for 2013?  I decided my word for 2013 is STRIVE.  The definition of "strive" is to "make great efforts to achieve or obtain something."  To live up to my word, I needed to find something big, something difficult, something that requires great effort.  An HIM seems to fit the bill.

For me, the road to the HIM will be a long journey.  But I am at the starting line.



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