Friday, June 30, 2006
Always learning
It has been 5 days since the IM CDA and I have to be honest about how I am feeling. On Sunday, I was cool with everything that transpired. My gut was still feeling bad and I could still feel the uneasiness in the muscles of my body. There was evidence that stopping was the right thing to do. To walk off was better than being carried off the course. On Monday and Tuesday as I started feeling better, I started questioning my decision. I wondered if I stopped to soon. Then as I rode the plane back to Austin, I started feeing sorry for myself. On the ride into town from the airport, I kicked off a really great pity party. Part of the problem is that I am not normally one that feels sorry for myself so I was not sure how to deal with it.
Like directed from someone, I got two phone calls from my teammates. First a call from Felicia who reminded me that there is a lot to celebrate in what we have done. We trained for many months, we suffered through a lot and still we made it to the starting line. We had fun getting there. We had some great teammates along the way. Why forget all about those good things and have them overshadowed by things that were out of our control. She made sense but I had not completely bought into it. Then, almost 15 minutes later and no more than 5 minutes after getting home, Catfish called me. He too had some great words of advice for me. Between the two of them, I started coming around to realize that it really is about the journey, not the destination. I found that my friends and family were so supportive of me. They were in awe of my endeavor, regardless of the outcome. I received so many emails and phone calls from people. All of them were so inspired by me. I had no idea. Many many people have really surprised me, some that I have never met. This has all been so incredible.
Bottom line,, how can I be one bit unhappy or regretful of the race outcome when in actuality the real outcome was getting to know that I have a wonderful group of friends, teammates, and family. Also, I cannot ignore that I did a great 2.4 mile swim and I biked 112 miles. I love what I did, what I am doing and looking forward to what I will do next.
# posted by Unknown @ 8:17 PM 
