Timeframe

I can't imagine doing a triathlon. Not because I don't want to, or because I think it would be too hard, but because I started off this summer wanting to train for both a marathon by December and a 100 mile bike ride by July 9th, and I could not find the time to train for both. There is not enough time in a day. When you work a full time job, need to go out and bike 50 miles in an evening and then hopefully have time to eat, sleep, and have human contact, you literally run out of time. And I think that's how triathletes are born. And any great athlete. It occurred to me while riding the other day that if I only had 2 hours but could only go 35 miles in that time, and I couldn't add anymore hours until the sun went down, I would just have to start biking faster to get more distance in for the time I have. And that's how they do it. There are many great athletes who balance jobs and families. How do they get so good? I'm starting to believe that they are the ones who are willing to push themselves in the time they're given to achieve goals that would normally take more. They're the kind of people who know what it means to want something, define the meaning of dedication, and love the pain. They love to work hard. It's not about sacrificing the balance you need in life so that you can give more time to something else, sometimes it's about using the time you have for one thing to the fullest. When I have time to train I already work hard. And now I need to learn to work harder. Because great people take the time they're given, they set their goals, and they make it happen. I guess that's every moment though. You only have a certain amount of time to sit at a family dinner, to sit down and play monopoly with friends, to walk the path along the creek in the woods, to love another person, to have a conversation, to listen, to learn, to build strength. Milk every moment for what it's worth because each moment has an allotted amount of time and it's not going to wait for you to be finished or feel ready before flitting away.

5/27/11