Dare to be Great

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” -Theodore Roosevelt

I still remember back in January of 2009, I was having dinner with my friends Leslie and Dan at the OP.  Leslie was telling me about her next marathon, the Wisconsin Marathon in May.  By the end of the evening, she had me considering joining her.  I wasn't a runner. Throughout childhood the extent of my running consisted of running the mile once a year in physical education class.  I was never an athlete in middle school or high school either.  The odds seemed against me.  But the one thing I did have was determination and the willingness to dare.  So I registered for the marathon and also convinced my best friend Amber (who also wasn't a runner) to join me.

So we embarked on the journey together and followed the "Non-runners Guide to Marathon Training."  Well, I followed it for the most part.  I missed quite a few runs due to trip leading.  The marathon was small, only 500 people running the full marathon.  At times I questioned whether I was even on the course because there were no spectators or other runners by me.  But I finished; slowly but surely I finished.  5:06.  I was sick to my stomach afterward.  Who would ever want to do that again?

I wanted to.  Next up Amber and I ran the Twin Cities Marathon in Minnesota in 2010.  Per usual my training was sub-par.  But I felt good race day and finished in 4:36.  I was starting to get the hang of this.  Not only that, I wanted to make it a part of my lifestyle.  I set a goal to run 10 marathons by 30.

Up next was the Cowtown Marathon in February 2011.  My training was weak and I was suffering an injury.  I had to downgrade to the Half Marathon instead and my time was slow.

I had unfinished business in Fort Worth.  So in February 2012, we both returned for the Cowtown Marathon.  This time, I had spent more time training and was feeling good.  In fact, I actually was beginning to enjoy long runs.  3 hour runs on the NCR Trail were my favorite.  I finished the full marathon in 4:19.

With 3 full marathons under my belt, I was looking for another challenge.  So I decided to try a triathlon, an olympic triathlon in October 2012.  0.9 mile swim + 32 mile bike + 6.5 mile run.  I wasn't really worried about the bike and I definitely wasn't worried about the run.  But the swim?  I had never just gotten in a pool to swim laps.  In fact when I thought about swimming, all I could think about was having to put paddles on may arm in swimming lessons when I was a kid.  I do not like things that I'm not successful at.  Nevertheless, I had to get in the pool and I did.  I didn't follow any training plans, I did my own thing and felt physically strong race morning.  But I was nervous.  The weather was cold and rainy.  The bike was miserably cold and I felt hypothermic and thought about quitting .  But I persevered.  I finished in 4:06 feeling ready for more.  I started dreaming of a Half Ironman with the ultimate hope of a Full Ironman.

Up next was the Delaware Marathon in May of 2013 which would be my first marathon without Amber.  I had dreams of a finish time of 4:05.  Unfortunately I got mono about 6 weeks before the race and had to take some time off from training.  I recovered from mono quicker than expected and completed the race.  4:19.  Same time as the Cowtown.  Thoughts returned to the Half Ironman.

So here I am, registered for the 70.0 SavageMan Triathlon in September.  Triathlete Magazine ranked Savageman as the #1 hardest triathlon in the world. This is my blog about chasing dreams and daring to be great.