-Breakfast: Bacon, egg, and cheese breakfast burrito, 2 cups coffee.
-Lunch: BlueBerry Bagel and cream cheese, 12oz. blueberry pomegranate juice.
-Dinner: Ham sandwich on wheat bread, with pepper jack cheese and jalepeno mustard, handful of potato chips.
-Snacks: 1 bottle vitamin water, handfull of pizza rolls, several pizza bagel bites, chili-cheese dip and corn ships, 2 cans of Bud Light. This was my superbowl warm up (thanks Mike!). Oh, and the Jazz got killed.
Training: 27:30 continuous swimming, RPE 6. Felt GREAT. My last 150 meters I timed in at 2:30. At that pace, I did about 1650 meters. I continue to REALLY feel great about the swimming. My first race in Coeur d'Alene I finished in 78 minutes; my 2nd race in Lake Placid in Finished in just under 72 minutes. I am optimistic that if stay focused on the swimming, I can shave another few minutes off the time this year. Thus, the repeated IM swim photos (2008 Lake Placid above), and the IM swim start video to the right!
Today's post is quite a bit more random than most, but I think it bears mentioning. It is the hardest question to answer, but probably the most frequent around Ironman. It comes from friends, family, and complete strangers. "2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run? WHY would you choose to do that to yourself??"
A completely candid answer would require significantly more time and space to answer than I am willing to commit to, and frankly, more than you all would care to read; if you're not already bored stupid, that would most certainly get you across the threshold. I'm also pretty sure that the question is, more often than not, a rhetorical one! So instead of trying to answer in one ridiculously melodramatic, soul baring post, I'll try to give you pieces of the answer every now and again... Maybe along the way the real, the complete answer, will fall into place piece by piece.
I got on this particular topic earlier today reading a magazine article, and it had a quote in it that caught my attention. It certainly isn't the magic answer to the question, but I felt it was a good start on explaining motivation.
"The masters in the art of living make little distinction between their work and their play, their labor and their leisure, their minds and their bodies, their information, their recreation, their love and their religion. They hardly know which is which; they simply pursue their vision of excellence at whatever they do, leaving others to decide whether they are working or playing."
-James A. Michener
Do I think I am a "master of living"? Not at all!! But I do think there is something to the thought that who we are, the things that motivate us to push ourselves, and how find what will be important to us, are all linked. More importantly, that titles like WORK, PLAY, PRIORITY, TRAINING, and ATHLETE are subjective, and our own deeply personal definitions for them are what really matter. We only have to convince ourselves... and then not pay attention when someone tells us we're crazy, calls us a tool, makes light of our passion, or thinks that what makes us tick is weird, silly, dumb, etc.
David, if there is anyone that could carry the title of the "closet thing to Chuck Norris", it would be you my friend! Your are manly!
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