Mentalsidewalk

Mr. T’s Turtle Head Triathlon.  This was one of the most humbling experiences for me in a very long time.  It was  a great adventure from drinking margaritas the day before to getting 3 hours of sleep the night prior.  Thinking I was going to drown at one point, heavy rain fall prior to the race, losing my swimming goggles 30 min. prior to start time, cramp from eating too big of a breakfast… well you get the point.

The most inspiring part of it all was to see people of all ages and athletic abilities.  People did what they had to to start and finish the race.  They showed up, which is more than what most people can ever say and the gravy was that they finished no matter how deep they had to dig within.

When was the last time you dug deep within yourself to finish something you started?

It was great to see entire family participating together.  Husband, wife and children. These little 10 year olds were so adorable.  I was telling my niece and she is all excited to do one together one day.  You cannot imagine the joy within to hear that.

There was a lady that got a flat in the beginning of the bike route and was not equipped to fix her flat, so another individual gave her his rim from his spare bike so she can continue the race.

How often do we go out of our way to help complete strangers reach their goals?  truly wanting to help others with nothing expected in return.

Leading up to the event it seemed like I did everything to sabotage my success.  From drinking the day before to eating bad and lack of sleep night prior to the race.  Oh yes, forgot the most critical part – finding every excuse not to train. Doubt will always be a variable in the path to our success.  That cannot be avoided, what you do from that point on will determine your outcome.  I let that doubt creep in and in turn did everything possible to be able to have my excuse ready just incase I did not finish the race or had a bad standing.

In the end, as long as you are never willing to give up you can accomplish anything you desire.  Of course there is always a more effective way of doing it. p.s. avoid margaritas the day before.

I ask you this, what was the last vision, hope, dream that you walked away from or keep putting off due to doubt?

This was  a lot more difficult than I expected it to be.  When times get though along the way look for inspiration in the right places and just keep moving forward.  I saw so many people that had less athletic ability than I did yet they just kept moving forward.

Everyday, do something to inspire yourself and just keep moving forward.

How often in life do we quit on our dreams, big or small, at the last minute. That critical time of decision and we find a reason to walk away.  Let me tell you, I was ready to go home when I was standing there at the start line in front of the lake for the beginning of the swim.

When you feel like quitting, just do it anyways.  That is how simple it really is, just do it anyways.  keep moving forward, one inch at a time.

There was a point in the swim that I was thinking, “what the heck am I doing here?”  Not even half way through the swim, I feared, “will I be able to finish this?”  The answer is always yes.

It is amazing how much we have within ourselves.  Never lose sight of that belief.

Be prepared to let all strategy and tactic go out the door.  A month prior to this I cut my foot open and ever since I made every excuse not to do any training.  Prior to the last month, I had gone to the pool to work on my technique and I must say, I was very impressed with my new swimming technique.  I truly believed I would glide through that water during the race.

What we have to realize is that in the real world our strategy, tactics, techniques all can go down the drain.  As soon as I hit the lake all technique vanished, it was swim to survive mode.

In the end, you do what you need to do in order to finish what you started, even if it does not unfold the way you expected it to.

Running through the finish line was all worth it.  The sense of accomplishment will always over power the price we have to pay to get there.

To everyone that stood by me, thank you so very much.  Sarah D., thank you for your weekly calls to check in on me and your enthusiasm and belief even though I was not training.  Derrick Shirley, a man you did his first triathlon at 350 pounds, you are an inspiration.  Sarah Hart, thank you so much for waking up at 4 am to come to the race as my support.

The list goes on and on and that my friends is the beauty of this sport.

Fred sarkari