All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination. -- Earl Nightengale
One's destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things. -- Henry Miller
For the past few weeks, I've felt a little at sea - Destination Unknown...kind of like this perfectly trippy 80s new wave song, no? Where would my next chance to become an Ironman be? We were holding out for Ironman North Carolina - logistically the best option...but yesterday we learned that IMNC has been "discontinued." And even though I knew deep down that was the likely outcome, I couldn't help but feel disappointed that that dream was no longer an option.
Even though I'm sad about IMNC (and actually a little sad for triathlon in general, more later), I need to change my way of looking at things. After all, part of the blahs I've felt for the last few weeks were related to having a plan but no end result in sight, no destination to shoot for. It's hard to get jazzed up about another year of training without knowing where it will lead.
(OK, stop laughing...I imagine there are people out there who would find it hard to get jazzed up about a year of training even if there were unicorns and leprechauns and millions of dollars and unlimited sushi at the end...but I do get excited looking ahead to my A races. I also get excited about unicorns and sushi. Leprechauns creep me out a little bit. If I had unicorns and sushi, I probably wouldn't need millions of dollars, but that would be OK too.)
Anyway, it now seems that we have a destination. 2017 will be the year of Chattanooga. IMCHOO will be where I finally become an Ironman. And it better happen this year...because as far as I can see, WTC (the company that owns Ironman) is trying to kill triathlons - this is why I'm sad in general.
See...here's the thing. WTC is buying up all sorts of triathlons that used to be run by smaller, local companies or organizations. And of course there's plenty of reasons why the local companies are selling the races - races are hard to put on, expensive, possibly money-losers, etc. and more. But the problem is that WTC is buying these races and then making changes...up to and including cancelling them. Just like IMNC. IMNC used to be Beach2Battleship and was known as one of the best non-WTC long course races out there. Doing it had been on our bucket list - not the least of which because they gave out flannel pajama bottoms to finishers. If WTC keeps buying up these races, they're going to end up with an unhealthy (and possibly unlawful, but hey, I'm not an antitrust expert) monopoly. And then they will cancel a ton and jack the prices on others and do all sorts of non-triathlete-friendly things. And then maybe I won't be a triathlete anymore. I hope I am wrong, but this turn of events (buying IMNC and killing it within one year) really bothers me.
OK. Off the soap box. On to training. The destination is known. The plan is in place. I have a roadmap to get there. Now I just have to change my way of looking at this and enjoy the journey.
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