Would I Do It All Over Again?

 Miles of the Journey......sometimes I wonder did I take this journey or did this journey take me?  Think of the "other things" I could have been doing if I  had not been training for the last 40-plus years.  Think of all the time I could have put into other possibly more worthy pursuits.  I could have been a success rather than an endurance bum looking for the next hill to climb.  Am I going to say like the song says, "Lord help me, Jesus, I've wasted it so?"  

Yes, the journey took me.  It took me and molded me into who I am ., good or bad, success or trivial pursuit,  what you see is the end game. And the journey seems to have been a series of small decisions to take certain roads over others.  Am I satisfied with where my choices and my journey have taken me to or who my journey led me to be? 

In asking myself this question, I have to look at others who took other paths and made different decisions at various crossroads.  Is there a journey destination I would want to emulate if I could do it all over again?  I can't see it from here.  I can't see a life I would rather have had than this one in endurance sports.  

After 32 marathons, 53 triathlons, and countless other running and biking events, my story makes me smile.  Yeah, I'd do it all over again.  Praise God for the life He gave me and the closeness with Him that was part of the bargain along the Miles of the Journey.

Thank God for the Moments

 The last bike I bought was 11 years ago.   I was  70.  Now at 81, why in the world would I need a new bike?  Beats me.  The child in me is still kicking, like in a mother's womb ready to be born.  There will be the pain of childbirth, fitting the bike to myself, and the biggest labor pain:  paying for that puppy.

It's a gravel bike, and with the limited road options around here,  this will give me training on dirt roads with drop handlebars; more options for training.  So I would want to be training?  Didn't I just say I am 81?  I thought so.

No matter how much longer I live to enjoy this new bike and its possibilities, it is worth it for the moments, however few they may be. The other night it had just gotten dark and I was coming in on my mountain bike.   Everything was perfect with the weather, the time of day and with my body on the bike.  How great this is, I thought.  I wish I could ride more.  It had been a long and physically arduous day but in the moment I didn't feel fatigued at all.  I had no lights so continuing the ride was not an option out here in the woods. 

However, I had the moment, if only the moment. A moment to remember and relish in lesser times.  So I am buying the bike for the moments.  Thank you God for moments.

To The Things That Matter Most

 Monday the weather is supposed to be on the upswing and I am planning a coming-out party so to speak.  Whether I do another triathlon or not, I want to put  some order to things.

Hopefully, I can schedule and plan for certain time allocations for all facets of my life to certainly include training.   This will involve some real prioritizing of what I value most and consequently try my best to spend what's left of my life on the things that matter most.

 So, here's to going with that in a couple of days.  There is a quote that speaks to that by Stephen Covey, "The things that matter most should never be at the mercy of the things that matter least." Thoreau wrote, "Our life is frittered away by detail."   

So the program is first of all to do less frittering and pay more attention to the things that matter most, to include the people who matter most.  

However,  I am not that good at this and my effort is being bathed by prayer for assistance in putting "first things first."  That, of course, is God.  If I do that, I believe the plan will fall into place. "Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven and all these things shall be added unto you." Amen

I Wouldn't Want to Be Anyone Else

 Things are all gung-ho and push on until you have an injury.  It's easy to be inspired when you are in good health and nothing hurts.  But when back spasms come and go at frequent intervals, all the rah-rah  fades into the background.  

Now it is teeth gritting and plod on time.  The only reason you keep going is because you said you would to yourself.  It was fun before, not so much now. 

Over the years of doing this crazy stuff, I have come to realize that this is where endurance sports begin and end;  in the solitary, with no fanfare plodding forward through pain and discomfort and no one really knows.  You don't really know why either except this was important to begin with. But you move on and embrace the pain.

The reason may be on the other side or the end of the course and on the other side of the pain.  Even then you may not know completely. It's not amenable to analysis. It is just who we are; no answers, no excuses,  the way God made us.  Yeah, it hurts.   But thanks God.  I wouldn't want to be anyone else. 

Gratitude for the Spirit Within

 Today, I found myself looking at the race websites and thinking of events I would like to go to.  I found some events that looked really good, but more noteworthy, I found that few things in life stir me like the prospect of challenging myself in an event. 

Lots of things have changed but this hasn't.  It feels so natural like good conversations can be.  Today is about being inspired.  It is like the apparently dead fireplace ashes stirred to find coals under all the ashes.  With a little help, they turn to flame, like my own childlike passion coming to life with prospects of competing and being challenged again.   

This passion is like God.  He never leaves.  He never changes.  I am not sure I want to either.  Thank you God for the stirring of the heart that looks beyond to see the crest of the hill the soul is craving to climb.  Thank you, God, for putting this spirit within me.  

Putting Your Face in the Cold Wind - Can We Take It Too Easy on Ourselves

 Yesterday, I rode and ran in the cold.   Lately, it seems, I have unconsciously avoided harsher conditions to train in. Back when I was more of an animal, I did that all the time.  The weather was just something I had to put up with, like a sore knee or drivers who seemed incensed with acting like they were going to run me down. 

Yesterday, there was something added that had been  missing and I felt more like an athlete because I had put up with the cold.   The miles of the journey have taken me away from myself at times, and that could be a good way to get lost.  

And the question is:  can we take it too easy on ourselves sometimes?  As we seriously age up temptations can go from booze and women to a nice cushy recliner in front of the fireplace on cold days. It's easy to get really old in a hurry.  Just let yourself go and avoid the hard spots on the road.  The word I have heard is resistance exercise slows down aging.  Maybe we should exercising our resistance to taking the easy way.

Yeah, it's all part of life. And there is nothing wrong with a nice cushy recliner in front of the fireplace either, that is, after a good hard workout putting your face into the cold wind for a while.  

Yeah, take the hard road.  It is too easy to get old.

New Years - What Are We Going to Do With Our Little Longer Time

 

A New Year - God willing I see all of it, but if I do, what do I want to do with it?  Time is life's money.  Waste it on unnecessary spending and  one ends up broke and hungry.  So, with the year ahead.  It is a gift from God to experience this life a little longer.  So what do we do with a little longer?  Do we use it watching life go by, that is media, videos, television, movies, watching sports of some sort?  Or, do we get in the arena and become a life participant ourselves?  

And, one can ask, "What arena?"  Ah, there's the rub. There is a line from a song in the  movie "Flashdance."  It goes, "Take your passion and make it happen."  So what is the passion?    What lights our  fire?  

If there were not handicaps or obstacles to whatever passion you could pursue, what would that passion be?  It would appear to find that one thing would be a good goal for the coming newness of the year.  Is this the year we finally "dream the impossible dream"  and step and pursue it?