Finding The Opportunity In Every Difficulty

It’s always the best approach to look for the opportunity embedded in every difficulty.  With that said, I had some great “opportunities” at my last race, a race that was full of difficulty.  The first opportunity was the chance to attend the pre-triathlon parade and get a picture with the Parade's Royalty Court.

*I'm looking like the coolest guy since Parades added Royalty Courts.

*Classic truck at the parade, not sure the model

*Also not sure on the model

*I know this one, it's a fire truck, lol.

*Flash mob in motion

Often times in racing, as in life, it's not about winning.  Most people who enjoy this website don't enjoy it because I can win things.  I'm sure I have few detractors who browse here and find satisfaction in my struggles, there will always be those people. However, it's my belief that people visit my website because they can identify and relate to my journey in doing the things I love to do. There is something powerful about setting goals and committing to the single-minded focus of achieving those goals.  Everyone can I identify with that, it doesn't just have to be about triathlon. 

I would hope that people can see that it isn't always easy and I have my fair share of struggles.  I, like everyone else, have moments of struggles and frustrations. I want people to see that everyone has those moments and it's okay to feel that way.  I have my moments of doubt and apprehension as well, it's okay to have those feelings too, the key is to work through them.  I once knew a person who made everything about winning.  The attitude of "win at all costs," "first or last," and "I don't care about anything else but winning," leaves room for more disappoint than satisfaction.  My dad use to tell me "If you want to hit home runs, you have to focus on hitting line-drives."   It's true, if you want to win, then you must first focus on having fun.  When you have fun, the winning and race work themselves out.

I love to win, I like to cross the finish line first grinning from ear to ear like a big goober, but winning isn't what it's about.  Setting goals and doing your best is the key to satisfaction.  If that is good enough to win that is great, but winning is only part of it.  You can train hard and train to win without focusing just on winning.  In fact, the more I have dedicated myself to being the truest to my training adventures and my goals, the more I have won.  

In 2009 I came off an injury not thinking about winning.  All I thought about about was having fun, training, and how happy I was to be back exercising.  Winning didn't cross my mind, as a result of that mindset I won the first four races after returning to competition, all in course records. I rest my case.  Do your best, be true to the spirit of competition, train hard, and have fun, good things will happen both in sport and life.  

Back to my last race, the second "opportunity" was a chance to wear a sweet outfit with lime green accents.  You can’t have a bad day when you are lookin’ sharp.  Thank you to Jena for helping me coordinate the details to take the kit from sweet to super sweet.

*Limed-out and on the run lookin' sharp.

*I matched the kit and the bike, skills.

After the race I had a great after-party with Ayla and Taylor at my house.  Taylor was nice enough to make me some great whole-wheat cookies, and bring me some great food after the race.  Ayla was a good friend and rushed from the Dirty Dash to attend the race, cheer for me, and take some pictures of my “opportunities.”  

*Can't be too bad with a sweet kit like this, right?

*Finished, shut 'er down.

We had a great evening of laughing, relaxing at my house, and watching America’s Best Dance Crew, So You Think You Can Dance, and Whale Wars. That was a heck of a party!  And yes, they did get to see a couple of my sweet dance moves after being inspired by America’s Best Dance Crew.

If you have not noticed, I have yet to say the name of the race I just completed.  I am holding back the name out of respect for the race and effort that people made to put it on.  Even if it was a total disaster I still respect the race and won't mention the name.  I tell you the following not as excuses, but as pure facts of my last adventure.  As Sean Hannity of Fox News always says, "Those sir are the facts, you can't change the facts."  

Here are the facts of the last race; it was poorly run and it affected my performance.  Athletes had no idea if they were coming or going, or where they should be going to.  The race website listed a 1pm start, so I planned on that.  The race director decided to move the start to "somewhere between 2:00 and 2:30."  I'm sure there was a good reason for this, but the bottom line is you simply can't do this to people who have paid money and planned for the initial start time  This presents a problem for me because I plan everything, specifically my fuel strategy for the entire day, based on the listed start time.  When the start is delayed by over an hour my fuel strategy is off by the 60 minutes that my body is consuming my fuel that was allocated to have been used during the race.  That is a make-or-break thing in a race that takes an hour.

I was totally cooked and out of fuel 30 minutes into the race and found myself walking (numerous times on the run).  I'm not ashamed to say that, those are the facts.  I'm secure enough in myself to tell you that yes, the tri-machine was walking, it happens.  It was a direct result of all the craziness going on with the race logistics.

*Taylor's whole-wheat cookies were a great treat after not eating for 5 hours.

The race also had problems with the newly added wave starts that affected the race.  Some people started at 2pm, some at 2:04, some at 3pm, and some at what seemed to be whenever people felt like. Transition was a free for all with people bringing their own bike stands, and even setting up outside of transition...?  

The race was all handwritten timing so it was very frustrating after the fact.  If it were not for the fact that I actually helped tabulate the results because it was taking forever, I would have had no idea that I finished 5th in the men's race.  Needless to say, I left very frustrated because the performance I was capable of was diminished by things beyond my control.  

*Trying to see the opportunity in all the difficulty

So there they are, the facts of an extremely frustrating day. All I can do is shake it off, Brodacious lives to fight another day, I will be a better man for it.