So, a friend of mine did her first triathlon today, and finished like a champ. Made me think of way back when when Sean and I used to do these things in high school. Made me miss the experience, to be perfectly honest. Not just the triathlons, which were fun in a really unique way, but just the sense of getting up really early, full of nerves, ready to do something you’d never done before. It was like that before every swim meet, triathlon, mountain bike race, whatever – before every ridiculous thing that I did, where the potential for failure was high, and success would require every ounce of strength or cunning I could muster.
Heady times. Sitting in a lake, ready to go completely nuts for the next two+ hours at 8 in the morning is a unique feeling. You’re tired, from having gotten up at 4:30 to get to the competition site, but you’re also amped up from the nervous energy. Maybe you’re lucky, and you’re sitting in the water as the sun comes up – the breaking dawn casting a warm glow over the punishment you know awaits.
It is sort of strange – I felt the same way somewhat way back when after I’d watched the Last Samurai – sort of a sense of, what do I prepare myself for? What conflict do I face? What battle do I desperately hope to win? And lacking such a battle, how do I fulfill that desire for purpose?
Battle? Purpose?
The answer is clear.
Well, ok, so if I’m going to decide to fight for something, I’d like to fight for something I believe in.
You didn’t say they had to be a just battle or for a good purpose.
That makes it a lot tougher…
She really kicked ass. I keep waiting for her to update her blog, but nothing yet.
I will update my blog. When I have time. Which may be a few days from now. We’ll see.
I’ll take this opportunity again to say THANK YOU so much for coming up and cheering me on. It made a lot of difference, and meant a lot to me.
As for battles and purpose: I’m totally with you. Goals, especially goals that actually matter to you, are beyond a doubt VITAL to feeling like you are moving forward and getting the most out of your life. That’s almost entirely why I did the triathlon in the first place. Not to say I’ve done one, but to go through the journey of getting there and to see what I would do when the chips were down.