Carpe Diem

Unexpected opportunities come around from time to time and you have to make a choice. You either have to seize the opportunity, stare it in the face and accept it, or dismiss it and not recognize it as an opportunity. So my sister called me last week to tell me she was thinking about registering for her first half iron distance triathlon. I listened to her talk about the race and why she wanted to do it and every conversation I have had with my colleagues over the past couple of years flashed before my eyes. I told my sister she HAD to do it! I don't think, nor did I want any of my encouragement to impact her decision and I don't really think it did. All I know is that within an hour she posted on Facebook stating she registered for the event.

I immediately wanted to do it too... I didn't really see the opportunity until the next day. I went to work and told my colleagues what happened the night before and about my desire to jump on the bandwagon. Both of my colleagues pumped me up and told me to register! I emailed a couple other people who offered words of encouragement. I was so excited about the prospects of doing this event and then the naysayers started to appear. I heard some of the following statements:

• I'm not sure you are ready for this. - Perhaps true but here's what I have to say to that, when will I ever be ready for something like this? There is only one way to figure it out and that is by trying. 
• You realize you are going to have to train six days a week. - Yes, I realize I can't just show up race day and think I am going to be able to do this event. If you remember, I did train for a marathon. That was so much more than just one run a week. Sure some people are able to do races in such a fashion but I know (one) from experience that doesn't work too well and (two) that people who do that can hurt themselves. I really have no interest in hurting myself and actually enjoy training. I certainly don't want training to be my entire life but I also don't mind spending hours on my bike, running or swimming.
• I have been met with dead silence. - Silence has been the worst. I like to hear what people are thinking regardless of whether I will like it or not but as one of my friends pointed out, if you have nothing nice to say it is better to say nothing at all. True that but seriously, what happened to being encouraging? Even if I am skeptical I do offer words of encouragement to others because the truth of the matter is I don't know what anyone else is capable of until they show me what they can do, and quite honestly we are only responsible for proving things to ourselves, not others.

I went to work the following day and my colleagues asked me if I registered for the race to which I had to respond no. They were confused because I was so excited the day before. I explained that as I was talking with various individuals my decision was met with skepticism and my excitement had waned. I was so focused on the negative that I forgot all of the positive comments. My colleagues pulled the positive comments out of me which included (and some of which they were responsible for):

• So much fun! You are going to be awesome!
• You have been talking about this for years, I can't wait to hear how it goes!
• I'll run with you to help you prepare, how cool!
• Awesome, I'll have someone to swim with!
• You are going to feel great when you accomplish this goal!
• I know you can do it. Seriously, you have done all of these things before, now you just need to put them together!

So what did I do that night? I wrote a training plan to determine the feasibility of this event, I compared the pool schedule at my gym to my workout schedule, I checked in with my sister and then I REGISTERED!!!!!

Dukie in his trailer.

Since registration day I spent some time setting myself up for success. I entered my training plan into runningahead, I fully converted my bike trailer into a dog trailer so my dog can be with me during training and I organized all of my work out gear/equipment so that it is easily accessible...

So, on February 11, 2013 my training will truly begin!!!

Wish me luck, call me crazy, be skeptical, be supportive... While you are doing all of that I will be excitedly embarking on a new journey!

And hopefully I will have another picture like this to share with all of you!