Be Playful

I tracked and stalked them. Today is a rest day for my training which I know I'll crave a few months from now but it's hard to enjoy in the moment when everyone else is racing. Ah, triathlete drama. Boo hoo :)

So instead I decided to sit back with my laptop and follow my fellow athletes racing literally all over the place. All the way from the streets of Worthington, to the waters of Alum Creek, to my old college stomping grounds of Grand Rapids, Michigan, they raced hard had fabulous finishes. So proud of my Just Tri teammates, my MIT running pals and my COTC groupies! Good work everyone!

I don't usually learn things the first time. Or even the second. Or third. But after some time hopefully it starts to settle in. This sport, whether it's triathlon or running is supposed to be FUN. Competing and racing is supposed to have joy in an of itself. We're doing what we love, right? The moment this stuff isn't fun, it turns into work and the joy is robbed.

Why So Serious?

I remember actually following this rule in October of 2012. I had the crazy idea that I'd run the Columbus Marathon, this being only 2-ish months after finishing the Ironman Louisville. My body needed that long time to recovery and for some reason when I signed up I never thought it would be an issue.

Right into mile 3 of the marathon, I mentally and physically shut down. This wasn't fun anymore and I wasn't enjoying my time on the course. In short, I wasn't ready to race again and needed to accept that. I needed to not be ashamed and just take it in stride. It was hard, but in that moment I decided I was going to cut out at the halfway point. I really didn't have much of a choice being out on the course that far, so I suffered until the turn to the finish. Hear that? I said SUFFERED. Running isn't supposed to me emotionally suffering. There's always that part of training and racing where we push ourselves but I was confident that this wasn't for lack of heart or trying. I just wasn't ready and my heart wasn't in it.

Truth. Photo courtesy of Run the Edge

After crossing the finish line and accepting my half marathon medal, I found some other friends who ran the half and they invited me to breakfast. After sulking a bit for cutting out early (even though it WAS the right choice), my friend Sherry told me something I remember to this day…."Hey Amy, it's ok. I hear they do this race every year." WOW. Yep, thanks Sherry. This wasn't the end of the world and I needed to hear that. Breakfast was awesome by the way. Better than pushing through another 13.1 miles of misery.

Today my friend Tim raced a half iron distance with our other teammates in Grand Rapids.  My friend and Tim's wife Hannah captured a video of Tim literally yards from the finish. Tim and Hannah's little boy Ethan spots his Daddy and starts calling his name. Running up to Tim, Ethan smiles and gives his father a hug. Tim STOPS and smiles and hugs his son back. He holds his little boy's hand and they run to the finish. In that moment Tim didn't care about anything but his son. He took a playful approach to crossing that line and it was the most humbling video I've seen in a long time. Bravo Tim.

Tim and Ethan carb-loading before the race today :)

There's more to life than our finish times. These sports we love are meant to create joy in our lives and be FUN. So even on the days I have to rest, I'm going to (try) to embrace it. Because rest is part of the training. And training and racing is FUN. Be Playful. Be Brave.