As most of you know, a week from now I will be competing in my first ever full Ironman triathlon. I really appreciate the positive encouragement I’ve received from some of you. It means a lot.
I write the opening sentence with a tad bit of trepidation because I still have 3 moderately intense training days ahead of me and at my age, injury is always a possibility.
Regardless of whether or not I get injured and end up not racing, I feel as though I’ve already achieved the biggest part of my goal…I’ve trained for 30 weeks and probably completed 80 to 90% of my training plan in those 30 weeks.
I’ve learned so much about discipline and the many obstacles that often stand in our way of having the discipline to do what we need to do even when we absolutely, positively, don’t want to do it.
Over the past seven months I’ve swam about 100 miles, biked over 2000 miles and ran around 600 miles. I actually enjoyed the biking and the running, but every time I headed to ‘my’ pool at the Piqua YMCA, I totally dreaded the thought of jumping in the cold water and swimming a couple of miles. There is nothing worse (my opinion) than jumping in a pool at six in the morning when it’s snowing outside.
What is so crazy, is after each of my swim sessions, I felt SO good. That’s the gift discipline provides–a feeling of accomplishment when you do something you know you need to do, when you don’t want to do it.
Back to Jim Rohn’s quote: “The major reason for setting a goal is for what it makes of you to accomplish it. What it makes of you, will always be far greater value than what you get.â€
The crazy goal I set back in early December of last year has made me a better person in many ways. We become better every time we deny ourselves of settling for a short term ‘good,’ instead of grinding it out with our eye on attaining the long term ‘great’…I definitely write from experience on this one.
My next race update will be in a week or so…with a picture of me crossing the finish line prior to midnight on Saturday, September 29.
P.E.A.C.E.
Jay@EagleLaunch.com
Philippians 3:13-14, “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
