Triathlon Season 2013

The challenge of a good writer is to get the message across while keeping the text short.  In past years I have written long posts at the end of the season, re-posted dozens of pictures, and revisited all of my adventures and the amazing people I shared those adventures with. 

I am not going take that approach this year. 

I very much appreciate my family and friends who supported and shared 2013 Tri Season with me. I don't even need to say that because my family and real friends know how much I appreciate them, but I say it anyways.

Although this is a public forum, it's easy to get lulled into a false sense of security.  I reasoned with myself that my followers appreciate my intense commitment and honesty.  I am a real person, if you aren't, then people see right through it, and your message means nothing. Perhaps being intensely committed to things is a fault at times, but that intensity has led me to some great success in 2013.

Tri Season 2013 ended perfectly, I was fortunate enough to win the Budu Sprint Series Championship, which was awesome and another thing that I am thankful for on the growing list of grand achievements in 2013.

Throughout the year I won six races and finished 2nd place at four others. That's 10 races finishing 1st or 2nd, which is beyond what I could have hoped for. I won athlete of the year and the Budu Championships Series. 

However, I am more proud of the moments when I could help, inspire, and challenge people to set, meet, and achieve their own goals and success.  I am thankful for opportunities like Ellensburg, the Peak Tri, and Lake Meridian which were races to learn how to let other people have their moments, be happy in  instances when the  successes aren't necessarily mine, and opportunities to be re-grounded during a season of soaring high.

2013 was by far the most successful year of my whole life on and off the race course. You may be surprised to hear that it started off...rather shaky... at best.

One of the best things about me is I can take things that are frustrating, annoying, hurtful, etc., and channel them into a plan for progress.  We all have things in life that leave us feeling frustrated, hurt, shorted, and often times asking, "Seriously, what the heck?"  That is life, and I am not immune to it.

The winter was tough, I broke up with a girlfriend, had some friendships drift apart as they sometimes do, and felt the general stresses of life and growing up.  When things like this happen I channel it.  Let's just say I did a lot of wood chopping, mountain running, and training on the ranch this winter. 

"Life is sometimes tough out here for a kid!" :) lol

The people who are successful, often times, have something to prove.  I am very thankful for all those tough things because they made me feel like I had something to prove and when I trained, I did so with a chip on my shoulder.  I was able to compartmentalize that energy into a positive outlet and minimize the effect on other aspects of my life...that's the ultimate form of recycling.  I really felt like I was being given an opportunity, despite it being really tough at the moment.

Some of the days were great, some less than.  The important thing was to stay focused and just keep going.  I admit that most days I didn't know what the goal outcome was, but I knew I had to just keep preparing so that I was ready to exploit the opportunity when it presented itself. 

This whole path was an awesome opportunity to better myself, reflect on the path I was on, and change course as needed.  It was the most focused and most fulfilling training year.  It was satisfying because it arose out of a challenging time, a time of being let down and frustrated, a time when I wasn't really sure what to do other than to keep training like a machine because that alleviated all the stress.

Looking back across the whole season, as hard as some of those things were, I am really glad I had the opportunity to experience them.  I honestly wish that everyone has the same opportunity to rise up and succeed in the face of difficulty and turn a negative into the most succesfull year ever.

It may be a tough day, but the day will get better if I push this weight, run this mile, or climb this hill.  Winners are defined during the times of challenge.  Sometimes things are difficult, it is during those times that you have the opportunity to face that challenge, succeed despite that fear and anxiety, and get what you came here for.

One of my most appreciated things this year was developing stronger friendships with a lot of people.  The lesson I have learned from this winter is to appreciate small things, which I think I do a great job of now. I really made an effort to tell people that I appreciated their friendship and being able to spend time with them.  I think because it's a competition we often overlook opportunities to tell people we appreciate them.  Ask anyone who passed me during a race and they will say that I did my best to compliment them with a "Good job, dude." or "That-a-way, big dog."  There's an important lesson in that, I've learned that I can be best friends and complimentary at the same time we are trying to run each other into the ground.

It sounds ironic, but that chip on my shoulder from being hurt and frustrated, has made me a better friend and competitor.

Going into the winter I almost find myself longing for that stress, for that anxiety that helped me learn so much about life the past year.  For the entire season I was able to flip that switch when it came time to train.  When I was tired I could turn that fire off and relax.  That was a great life skill to develop because there will always be stressors in life and the challenge is dealing with them.  I am really looking forward to fall and winter because even though my opportunity slammed shut sooner than I desired at Lake Meridian and Lake Sammamish, at least a dozen more opportunities have opened as a result.

During those tough times, if  you look hard enough and just keep going, you'll find the opportunities.

If you would like to revisit any of my races from 2013 feel free.  Thanks for following, motivating, and sharing in my adventures. 

I appreciate your friendship, even the ones that have drifted apart.  Maybe my opportunity for the winter is to re-establish those.  What an amazing season we all shared.

The Lake Loop - one of my favorites
Spring Classic
Bloomsday
Peak Triathlon
Spring Festival Triathlon
EWU Triathlon
ML Family Triathlon
Bozeman Triathlon
Yakima Training Camp
Spring Meadow Triathlon
State Games
Ellensburg Triathlon
Seeley Lake Triathlon
Lake Sammamish Triathlon
Lake Meridian Triathlon
Athlete of the Year