Allow me to begin this post by saying the next definer of strength is never quitting. I fully realize I risk losing all interest right now because I’ve already said it, but hang on before you stop reading. Don’t scan to the bottom of the post, because it’s not there. I’m going to bury the reason you’ll want to read this somewhere in the middle.
First, however, I’d like do offer sort of a redux to point 4, which was “Remembering what you can control and controlling it”. In sports and in life there are only two things we really control.
Attitude and Effort.
That’s it. These two little things are all we need to control.
There are many people who have said the same thing or something similar. The above picture is the one I found quickly. I’ll just leave you to consider this as an addendum to point 4 on strength.
Now…
On to the main attraction!
Most people at this point are well aware of who the Navy Seals are. In case you’ve been living in a cave though I encourage you to utilize the wizardry of google to educate yourself. I often read about what they do and how they train. There are a zillion videos on youtube about them as well. One of my favorites is an older documentary which follows a specific class through BUDs. Class 234. These guys endure to a level I can only imagine. There is one episode where they are doing
something and one of the guys form starts to slip. I think it was pushups, but I don’t remember. Anyway, one of the instructors essentially tells the guy “small adjustments”. I take this to mean make small adjustments as necessary in order to avoid quitting. We may not always be able to perform at the level we would like even when our attitude and effort are dialed in. In these cases is it better to quit or to make adjustments? Make those adjustments.
Don’t_ever_quit.
Strength Is:
1. Identifying and seizing the opportunities in your fear
2. Acknowledging what you want and taking steps toward it
3. Not making excuses
4. Controlling your attitude and effort.
5. Never quitting
individual. Some of us maybe aren’t even willing to admit we feel this way. On the other hand, some honestly do not have this issue. If that’s you….skip the rest of this. Better yet, post some comments on how you got there.
scheme of things and some don’t. Say you’re interviewing for a job; that outcome matter to you most likely. Competition with your spouse in a heated game of yahtzee…maybe not. I happen to believe that competition is a very healthy thing. I’m ashamed to admit, however, that I avoided it for most of my life. Even games with the family were really big deals for me, so I just didn’t play them. I won’t go into how all that has changed, but suffice it to say it can be summed up into the fact that I now view competition as an opportunity to better myself rather than an opportunity to see that someone else is “better” than me. Anyway….
everything one could accomplish through it. I remember as a little boy trying to use the force. I never did get it to work for me.
right”.
Nonetheless, I think it is perfect for this current topic. Remember, we’re still redefining strength. One might argue that this idea fits in more with a discussion regarding success or motivation. It does fit there and was probably intended for that arena, however I want us to consider it differently.
I didn’t know at the time, but the Ironman wasn’t the real desire I was expressing, but that’s a subject for another, probably very long, post. Bottom line, it didn’t seem even possible and I didn’t even know where to start, so I just kinda started staggering in what I thought was the right direction.
It’s 5:22 am. On a Saturday morning. It’s even cold outside. Why am I not sleeping? Well, if you must know I have been waking early lately for work. Not desirable on Saturday. It works out well today because I’ve had a post brewing in my head for quite some time now I’ve been wanting to transfer to bytes. Remember when I said in my previous post that we are going to re-define strength? I still mean it. Really. Fair warning: your status quo might be shaken up.
husband, father of two, and provider for his family. James is terrified of losing his family and his career. He doesn’t dwell on it often, but the fear is there. In James’ case this is not an overwhelming, life ruling fear…more of a nagging. What opportunity could be in his fear? James admits that he could actually lose his family due to circumstances he cannot control. He decided that instead of being paralyzed by that though he will make a point of enjoying the time he has with them.
Our fictional James identified and attacked his fears. This is no small feat and usually isn’t as simple as “deciding to change”. Some will struggle with even the willingness to define or see their fears. Others may be willing to list their fears but stop short in going on the offensive against them. James’ willingness to do this has given him a measure of freedom.
change the status quo. I’m greeted every day with success by my ability to not change. What if I make an attempt and “things get worse”? What if I fail? What if I am just plain incorrect? These questions may be valid to acknowledge and even entertain briefly, but to dwell on them will paralyze us. Sure, things could get worse. Our attempt may become a virtual Hindenburg going down in flames. We could misunderstand the entire situation and be wrong. These are real possibilities.
I no longer want to live with that kind of regret, so I’m going to try. I do not know even what the big goal is. I do know all the little things I’ve always been afraid to be and do though, so maybe by hunting down those dreams I will release my mind from just enough fear to see those larger dreams!
write it down somewhere. Have you already lost focus? Are you staring at seemingly unmovable insurmountable obstacles between you and your dream? Now isn’t the time for obstacles. Remove obstacles from the picture in your brain because for now, we’re pretending there aren’t any. What is the appearance of your dream when there are no obstacles? How do you feel? What are your overwhelming emotions? This is the entire exercise for today. The goal was simply to focus on something we think we may want and examine it. Sometimes doing this can give us direction, drive, and energy to pursue and change. Harness this energy. A dream which incites fear may just be something worth pursuing. Do not allow fear or any other obstacle keep you from finding a way to pursue your dreams.
event is over, thus the blog will remain and continue to be updated.
enabled to give. This was truly a team effort and we knocked it out of the proverbial park! Take some time to check out the Transitions Global website if you haven’t and follow them on Tritter (@Transitions_G) and Facebook and you can get updates about the girls and the work going on.
and this is the plan (for training anyway).
use your event to help raise awareness and funds. The 
I arrived at check in around 10:30 am on Thursday morning and was greeted by the banner in the picture above. I could see even as we approached the area that something was going on there. Street closure signs were everywhere and there was a sea of white tents in Tempe Beach Park. We found a parking spot and walked towards the activity along with many others. It was noticeable as we neared that there was energy in the air…a lot of
energy.
In the middle of the chaos there was some order…actually there was a lot of order. The volunteers knew exactly where we needed to go to leave all of our bags and our bikes. You can see my bags on the left. When you do an Ironman they give you to following bags:
very friendly and had about everything I could think of. All I needed was air. This turned out to be a mistake. After I racked my bike I was talking to a fellow athlete and he asked me if I was going to deflate my tires. I didn’t understand why he was asking and just as I was about to ask I heard a loud “POP” and he said “there went someone’s tire from the heat”. So, of course I replied, “oh yah, I’m definitely deflating my tires”. It wasn’t a big deal as there would be plenty of pumps available on race morning anyway. Check in was done and smooth. I took some time to look in the Ironman merchandise tent. Cool stuff. Long line to purchase it. I didn’t get anything.
was time to rock the wetsuit. Got that on no problem and was thankful it was warming me up. Did I mention Arizona is actually quite cold at 5:30 am in November? This had me scared of the swim. Next thing I knew the pros were off at 6:50 and I was almost in the water. I knew the water was around 62 degrees F and was expecting it to be awful which was magnified by the fact that my feet were frozen. Nonetheless, I got to the entry and simply jumped in…this would be the first, albeit small, challenge of the day…starting. The water surprisingly did not feel cold to me at all. I swam a bit to get near the starting line. I really wanted to line up near the absolute back of the pack, but I know I’m not a slow swimmer and that desire was only out of fear. This thought process led me to line up very much dead center. The sea of humanity around me treaded water a few minutes and then without warning I hear the gun! We were “off”. For the first 500 meters or so I’m convinced I swam the entire way with my head above water. People were everywhere. It was like swimming in a washing machine. I would just get swimming and then nearly swim over someone else or 
have an arm come down on top of me. There was some contact, but nothing that hurt or was noteworthy. I remember hearing the announcer (I do not know if it was Mike Riley aka, the voice of Ironman) talking the entire time. I remember seeing crowds lined up for quite some time on the shore. I remember hearing cheering…a lot of cheering. The announcer said, “keep cheering them on, they can hear you”. I always doubted that when I heard it in youtube videos, but it is true. We could hear the crowd and I was feeding off their energy. I’m 10 minutes into this race and I am having the time of my life. As we neared the first turn buoy I finally had found just barely enough open water to fit my body in and then we made the first and second turn and that got screwed up for a while. Following the second turn (we were now headed back), I discovered myself in open water. There were still people probably 6 feet away, but it felt like an ocean separated us compared to what it was before. I had passed quite a few people and found that interesting because I was purposely keeping my effort level very, very low. I was not pushing it at all. I arrived at the last buoy and made that final turn. I was having so much fun I was kind of bummed the swim was over. A fantastic volunteer helped me out of the water. I got the top of my wetsuit off and found a wetsuit stripper who quickly stripped off my wetsuit. All the while, the crowd was still there and maintained cheering! I felt like a rock star. I had completed the Ironman swim in 1:11:15, faster than I thought. Overall I was 580th out of just around 3000 and in my age group (one of the most competitive groups) I was 92nd. Not bad.
store and I didn’t want to push it yet. I got passed by what seemed like everyone in the race, but I kept to my plan. I was having trouble getting my heart rate to settle in. In training I did long rides around 130 bpm. I couldn’t seem to get below 140, but it was stable there so I went with it. The first lap went by fairly quickly. The ride out to the turnaround was somewhat uphill with a headwind, but not a strong one. I really enjoyed the ride back to town. I was able to ride very fast with little effort. Somewhere in the middle of the “hill” on the way back out, my right quad began to hurt. This has never happened to me in training, ever. Nothing I did helped it and as a result I had to slow down. The real bummer about this is I’d planned to ride my 2nd and 3rd laps faster than my 1st. I couldn’t do that now and every pedal stroke hurt. In an IM race, expect the unexpected. I was mentally prepared for this. I was hoping it 
would be something *else*, but it is ok. I will get through this as long as my leg maintains the ability to work and I wasn’t sure about that. Arrived at the second turnaround and was excited for the downhill. The wind had changed, however, and the downhill felt more like a flat. Luckily it wasn’t a strong wind. I had not seen my family at all yet and when I was riding 
back into town I kept looking for them. Finally, just before I got to the turn around I heard them yell my name. It was difficult to hear because spectators were still cheering…amazing! They were waiting on the other side of the street for me and all wearing orange shirts my wife had made. I hit the turn around and rode over to them where I stopped for just long enough to give high fives and kiss my wife. By now I was hurting bad and having some doubts because the pain in my leg was all I could think of. Seeing my family gave me the strength to go on that third lap. I was also feeling demoralized because I knew I was riding much slower than I did during training. It was frustrating. Somewhere out there I decided it didn’t matter. What mattered was I am going to finish this and have fun with it. Time doesn’t count for me, not this time. Got near the end of the third lap and began to think about transition. I was still hurting and fighting off frustration constantly, but winning the battle so far. I’d just completed the Ironman bike in 6:42, which was much slower than I’d expected.
million cheering spectators again (how do they keep
cheering all day?). Within a few feet I see my family again! I was so happy to see them. I kissed my wife again, high fived everyone and was off. I had a long way to go and was just enjoying every moment…ok, not the leg pain, but everything else. My poor daughter thought I was done with the race and didn’t understand why I had to leave again. I didn’t know that at the time of course because I was running. I’m thankful I didn’t know as it would have made me sad. I ran at a nice slow pace and allowed my heart rate to stabilize at just around 140. That was slightly high for a run, but considering what I’d done as a warmup it was better then I expected. I’ve never run a marathon going into this. My longest run ever was only weeks earlier at 20 miles. The really cool thing now was I realized that even if I had to walk 26.2 miles I was going to finish! This helped me really settle in and enjoy the race. I would 
cheer along with the volunteers at the aid stations and was having a fantastic time! My desire was to run the entire marathon. I didn’t know if this would be possible or not, but I set out with that goal in mind. I had my amphipod water belt on for this purpose. One thing I learned in Boulder was that my body doesn’t handle hydrating once/mile very well. I need to be sipping water and gatorade all day when running. At 30 minutes in I took my first gel. I learned that if I started gel at 30 minutes after a long ride and did one/hour my stomach was fine. In this case my stomach did not agree with the gel. I was able to keep it down and didn’t have to walk, but decided I may have to go with all liquid nutrition. I’d wait an hour to find out. My leg continued to hurt, but didn’t really get any worse, so I just kept running slowly and by about mile 6 my running legs finally woke up and my stomach settled down from the gel. Coming around to complete the first lap I was made once again to feel as though I was in the lead of this race due to the amazing spectators! They lined most of the finish line side of the lake and were constantly cheering. I even saw the cowbell guy out there drumming a rhythm like he’d
done all day on the bike course. Amazing. I was really beginning to feel fatigued by now. The sensation is interesting. My entire body wanted to stop moving and the desire was nearly all I could think about at times. I just had to focus on the box I could control which was generally comprised of the next 50 feet or so. Just keep moving, except to stop and fill my water bottles, which I did once/lap along with one visit to the porto john. This was a good sign. I was staying hydrated. I’d ditched the gels every hour and was sticking with perform and water. By the way, the lemon line perform was disgusting. I don’t know if it’s because it was warm or what, but it was not pleasant to drink. I told myself I’ll drink stuff that tastes 
good tomorrow. Today I swig this down. Eventually I got to mile 13 where at some point during those first hours I’d decided I would let myself walk. I ran past the sign and decided to walk at the next aid station. I didn’t walk the next aid station. After that particular aid station there was a hill. I began to run up the hill and my right leg refused. I was forced to walk up the hill. It took me maybe a minute, so I’m not counting that as walking especially since I didn’t want to, my leg just would not run. Got to the top of the hill and my leg returned to the normal level of pain so I resumed running. When my lap three started I got a surge of energy. I was already feeling strong except for aches and pains, but starting that last lap I remember thinking only 8 miles to go. That’s like a medium length training run. I AM going to finish. It got dark. People were walking everywhere. I passed a lot of walkers with my consistent, slow running. I got to the hill I had to walk the last lap and ran right up and saw the 23 mile marker! At this point I observer my heart rate was still 140, my stomach was fine, and I felt great with a 5k to go. I picked up my pace significantly. I wasn’t running with a gps so I don’t know exactly how fast I was running, but probably around 8:30-8:45/mile. My leg screamed, my feet hurt, my body nearly made me stop. I ran the last 5k at this pace which under these circumstances was very fast.
increasing cheers and crowds. People were hanging over the barricades and I was running through slapping hands and cheering. The crowd really got loud at this point. I suspect it was because I tried to return a small fraction of their energy. I am smiling ear to ear. I am really struggling at this point of writing this race report because there are not words to describe the feeling of elation I am feeling at this point in the race. The crowd is giving me the feeling that I’m winning this race. I see the final timing mat. I run over the last mat! As I come under the final archway I stop and flex…I am so happy I don’t know what else to to. I’m looking for my family. There are people everywhere. I can’t hardly see straight. All this is happening so fast! I completed the marathon in 5:05:30. As I’m flexing I hear Mike Riley, “Brien Delgado of Centennial Colorado…yah buddy! You are an Ironman!”
