I remember the summer of 2007! I was working in Iowa, but commuting as usual. Typically that meant one week on, one week off. I was a wee bit out of shape primarily due to the bad habits that tended to come with travelling...eating in hotels, and not working out regularly. And for some reason I was feeling a bit sluggish physically, and a bit unmotivated to change those things.
I don't know why the dream resurfaced at that point, but indeed it did. The dream of course was to do an Ironman. A dream that had first reared its head way back in 1994. So I spoke to her "highness", got the official go ahead, and in early september sent my 500 bucks off to the nice people in Penticton. For those that don't know the next part of the story, it was about a month later that I figured out why I was feeling a bit sluggish. Whoops! Cancer!
I remember when they were explaining the course of treatment to me, that I had no doubts about my ability to train right through it. After all, the radiation was only once a day, and the chemo only every 3 weeks. I think I lasted a week!! A month later I was too sick to walk!
So needless to say, the dream was "Off"! Fortunately, although the dream was dead, I was still alive, and sometime in the summer of 2008 I got an e-mail from Ironman Canada wishing to confirm my entry, so that they could assign race numbers. I explained my situation, and gave them my regrets.
But wait!
Because I had signed up through their charity partner, I had the option to carry my entry over to the following year....was I interested?
Dream "On".
The next part is history as I had a successful Ironman Canada in Aug of 2009, and my little human interest story was even carried by CTV. I was a minor celebrity.
Then after a brief hiatus (2 years) Roo and I decided to make a joint venture out of another western trip, whereby she would go "find herself" in the mountains of Alberta, and I would go do another Ironman in Penticton. That also worked out quite well for both of us.
Move forward to 2013, and the crash at Mont Tremblant. That day somehow left me with some big scars...all internal. Roo picked me up and stood me on my feet, and we at least finished the trip with a nice eastern vacation.
She also convinced me to return to the scene of the pylon, and so back to Tremblant in 2014 to show the world!! I can't put into words the way I felt for 12 hours. I felt lousy 10 minutes into the swim, and it got worse from there.
I quit the race only because I was seriously concerned about doing permanent damage to my body at best, and believe it or not, dying at worst. If you find that bizarre, then that's okay. I actually processed those thoughts, including a real concern about leaving my wife unprepared for either eventuality.
When I walked back to the RV, the dream was "Off"...once and for all! I had no hopes, no thoughts, no aspirations, no intentions, not even any wishes to toe an Ironman start line again. Sometimes I say those things just to appease myself, while a small corner of my mind is still considering it. Not this time! I didn't actually reject the idea of another race, I just never thought of it as a possibility.
And of course I've already made it clear how Roo made the next decision for me, and how happy I am about it, and yet what I haven't really told you, is why.
This is why!
Training for an endurance triathlon has become a way of life for me. Since my very first post 6 years ago I talked about the journey being more important than the destination. That was a little bit of wishful thinking perhaps, and indeed only partly true for the first couple of races. I think it has evolved however to become an overwhelming truth for me. I think that the training, and all of the things that go with it, are shaping me as a person. On top of that, I believe they are shaping me in positive ways. Everything that has transpired, including the bitter disappointments of the past 2 efforts, has I believe, made me a more useful human being. And "useful" is what I aspire to. Even the blogging adds some value to my world, in that the writing of it makes me think.
So maybe my dream has evolved a little bit, in that it's now not just about the race. The race however remains the goal that keeps me on track through the tough times. My logical mind tells me that's totally appropriate, even if the "journey is more important than the destination"!
DREAM ON
"Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before."---Edgar Allan Poe
Love
Peter
I don't know why the dream resurfaced at that point, but indeed it did. The dream of course was to do an Ironman. A dream that had first reared its head way back in 1994. So I spoke to her "highness", got the official go ahead, and in early september sent my 500 bucks off to the nice people in Penticton. For those that don't know the next part of the story, it was about a month later that I figured out why I was feeling a bit sluggish. Whoops! Cancer!
I remember when they were explaining the course of treatment to me, that I had no doubts about my ability to train right through it. After all, the radiation was only once a day, and the chemo only every 3 weeks. I think I lasted a week!! A month later I was too sick to walk!
So needless to say, the dream was "Off"! Fortunately, although the dream was dead, I was still alive, and sometime in the summer of 2008 I got an e-mail from Ironman Canada wishing to confirm my entry, so that they could assign race numbers. I explained my situation, and gave them my regrets.
But wait!
Because I had signed up through their charity partner, I had the option to carry my entry over to the following year....was I interested?
Dream "On".
The next part is history as I had a successful Ironman Canada in Aug of 2009, and my little human interest story was even carried by CTV. I was a minor celebrity.
Then after a brief hiatus (2 years) Roo and I decided to make a joint venture out of another western trip, whereby she would go "find herself" in the mountains of Alberta, and I would go do another Ironman in Penticton. That also worked out quite well for both of us.
Move forward to 2013, and the crash at Mont Tremblant. That day somehow left me with some big scars...all internal. Roo picked me up and stood me on my feet, and we at least finished the trip with a nice eastern vacation.
She also convinced me to return to the scene of the pylon, and so back to Tremblant in 2014 to show the world!! I can't put into words the way I felt for 12 hours. I felt lousy 10 minutes into the swim, and it got worse from there.
I quit the race only because I was seriously concerned about doing permanent damage to my body at best, and believe it or not, dying at worst. If you find that bizarre, then that's okay. I actually processed those thoughts, including a real concern about leaving my wife unprepared for either eventuality.
When I walked back to the RV, the dream was "Off"...once and for all! I had no hopes, no thoughts, no aspirations, no intentions, not even any wishes to toe an Ironman start line again. Sometimes I say those things just to appease myself, while a small corner of my mind is still considering it. Not this time! I didn't actually reject the idea of another race, I just never thought of it as a possibility.
And of course I've already made it clear how Roo made the next decision for me, and how happy I am about it, and yet what I haven't really told you, is why.
This is why!
Training for an endurance triathlon has become a way of life for me. Since my very first post 6 years ago I talked about the journey being more important than the destination. That was a little bit of wishful thinking perhaps, and indeed only partly true for the first couple of races. I think it has evolved however to become an overwhelming truth for me. I think that the training, and all of the things that go with it, are shaping me as a person. On top of that, I believe they are shaping me in positive ways. Everything that has transpired, including the bitter disappointments of the past 2 efforts, has I believe, made me a more useful human being. And "useful" is what I aspire to. Even the blogging adds some value to my world, in that the writing of it makes me think.
So maybe my dream has evolved a little bit, in that it's now not just about the race. The race however remains the goal that keeps me on track through the tough times. My logical mind tells me that's totally appropriate, even if the "journey is more important than the destination"!
DREAM ON
"Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before."---Edgar Allan Poe
Love
Peter
Love it, Pete! Dream on indeed!
ReplyDelete...but could you please reset so we don't need to prove we're not a robot to comment??
ReplyDeleteThanks Elly....and done!
ReplyDeleteLove it too Pete and the new layout!
ReplyDeleteAwesome post and wicked new layout! Dream on!!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to it!!
ReplyDeleteI love it too! I appreciate all that you share here, as I think you are not the only one becoming more useful.
ReplyDeleteLove hoj
Everyone's already said it. Love it. Killer layout! Mostly, I'm just glad! You are an incredibly useful human being already so I will be really interested to see what you become. Thank you for being you.
ReplyDeleteLove, gail