Do what you love

I had a great swim this morning. Yes, I said that. Fast for me, and fast compared to my lane-mates this morning. And since I am compelled to compare myself to everyone, over everything… well, it’s nice to come out on top once in a while. And it comes at a good time because I’ve been struggling with motivation and a sense of being stuck or being “less than” with all of this swimming, biking, and running stuff. So much so that, as I touched on briefly in another post, I have been considering doing the unthinkable. No, I’m not talking about wearing flats. I’m talking about the Q-word.

Yes, these last few weeks, I have been doing a better job of rah-rah-ing others than I have myself. And somewhere my language shifted and instead of saying things like “I’m doing Ironman this year” when people asked about it, I said “that’s the plan… ”. Post-race blues? Lack of endorphins through recovery weeks? Dunno, but I was feeling dangerously close to returning to the sofa from which I had dragged my super-sized self not that many years ago, and eating my body weight in tortilla chips.

I told Coach I needed a pep talk and so we had a little long sit-down where he indulged my neuroses, tried to be a voice of reason and encouragement (I think that’s what he was doing) and left me with some options to consider… “And you don’t need to decide anything right now.”

So I took the time to carefully consider what he said about 5 hours later… this happened:

Partially influenced by this:

Yes, a new coffee mug I’d felt compelled to pick up the day before. I don’t need another coffee mug but this one wouldn’t let me leave [the bookstore] without it.

So I’m in. Committed. And now also broke.

And this morning while eating my usual pre-swim breakfast of toast with nut butter and banana, sipping slurping coffee from the mug that gave me permission to click that Register button, regardless of how slowly I might traverse the course, I was cruising through Facebook and happened upon this video…

There’s a moment where Mirinda talks about the selfishness of being a professional athlete but that the point, the reward,  is in influencing or inspiring others to take control of their lives and live them more fully (I’m paraphrasing). And it’s good messaging to hear right now. That it really isn’t about how fast or slow, but about tapping into the best that you can bring, and perhaps inspiring others to make whatever changes they need to, to live their best lives. Or maybe that wasn’t what she was saying. But it was my takeaway.

Now, I'm not sure about you, but I think this post has gotten much too serious. So let me end with this topical thought: