I can't sleep....
There's a slight flicker of light in the ceiling fan fixture that reminds me of someone's headlamp flickering off in the distance. I close my eyes in hopes that I can focus on something else and have a flashback to an adventure race that I was competing in. There was a point in time where our team had to literally outrun a blizzard that was taking out teams behind us. Luckily for us, we were on the opposite side of the mountain range and only had to deal with some heavy winds and the never-ending swirl of snow. For years after that race, I would be reminded of that very specific moment in time by an image of the ray's of my headlamp light reflecting off the snow flakes in front of me. If I closed my eyes to blink...the image would be there. If I closed my eyes for an extended period of time...I could literally watch the flakes swirl around in my headlamp. Our team was physically and mentally tasked and without a doubt one of the most challenging times of my life. I learned a lot about myself both professionally and personally. It was this very race that exposed my weaknesses as a leader and follower as well as my skills. I will never forget that experience and talk freely about the good and bad of that race.
I've been on an emotional roller coaster the last few weeks. The marathon was supposed to be the challenge that was going to work me like "no other" and give me the same lessons in life that previous races have given me. Don't get me wrong...I am very happy with my accomplishments but I long for a challenge and the high stakes of failure. My #1 lesson from the Rome Marathon was the true power of pace for sustainment. This lesson alone can be applied to my personal life as well as the business side of things. For some reason, the idea of failure was not there. After a few weeks of training, the marathon was obtainable and I knew I could finish and it was a matter of principle at that point.
Now, I know it's all in my head and my fears can be mitigated through strategic planning. So here I am, laying wide awake in bed and staring at the ceiling fan slowly rotating in the breeze. I'm struggling with the idea of participating in something where the challenge (in my mind) is unobtainable. A challenge so foreign to my skill level that I am even scared with purely the thought of participating. A challenge that will get in your head and keep you up at night in deep thought. For me....this is running a 100 miles and attempting to do it as fast as I physically can do it.
The idea of running 100 miles is very intriguing to me and the seed of thought has harvested to a full blown addictive thought. I've competed in multi-sport events that were over 100 miles and also participated in adventure races that were a couple hundred miles in length but never participated in an "ultramarathon".
THAT'S IT....DECISION IS MADE....I'M UP AND OUT OF BED....TIME TO FIND THE ULTRA THAT WILL MAKE OR BREAK ME!
There's a slight flicker of light in the ceiling fan fixture that reminds me of someone's headlamp flickering off in the distance. I close my eyes in hopes that I can focus on something else and have a flashback to an adventure race that I was competing in. There was a point in time where our team had to literally outrun a blizzard that was taking out teams behind us. Luckily for us, we were on the opposite side of the mountain range and only had to deal with some heavy winds and the never-ending swirl of snow. For years after that race, I would be reminded of that very specific moment in time by an image of the ray's of my headlamp light reflecting off the snow flakes in front of me. If I closed my eyes to blink...the image would be there. If I closed my eyes for an extended period of time...I could literally watch the flakes swirl around in my headlamp. Our team was physically and mentally tasked and without a doubt one of the most challenging times of my life. I learned a lot about myself both professionally and personally. It was this very race that exposed my weaknesses as a leader and follower as well as my skills. I will never forget that experience and talk freely about the good and bad of that race.
I've been on an emotional roller coaster the last few weeks. The marathon was supposed to be the challenge that was going to work me like "no other" and give me the same lessons in life that previous races have given me. Don't get me wrong...I am very happy with my accomplishments but I long for a challenge and the high stakes of failure. My #1 lesson from the Rome Marathon was the true power of pace for sustainment. This lesson alone can be applied to my personal life as well as the business side of things. For some reason, the idea of failure was not there. After a few weeks of training, the marathon was obtainable and I knew I could finish and it was a matter of principle at that point.
Now, I know it's all in my head and my fears can be mitigated through strategic planning. So here I am, laying wide awake in bed and staring at the ceiling fan slowly rotating in the breeze. I'm struggling with the idea of participating in something where the challenge (in my mind) is unobtainable. A challenge so foreign to my skill level that I am even scared with purely the thought of participating. A challenge that will get in your head and keep you up at night in deep thought. For me....this is running a 100 miles and attempting to do it as fast as I physically can do it.
The idea of running 100 miles is very intriguing to me and the seed of thought has harvested to a full blown addictive thought. I've competed in multi-sport events that were over 100 miles and also participated in adventure races that were a couple hundred miles in length but never participated in an "ultramarathon".
THAT'S IT....DECISION IS MADE....I'M UP AND OUT OF BED....TIME TO FIND THE ULTRA THAT WILL MAKE OR BREAK ME!
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