Challenges, defeat, and rising from the ashes

Today's blog isn't so much about me, as it is some things I'm thinking about.

Over the past few weeks something very interesting happened to me:
While at a corporate function, my co-worker, Jeff, told me about when he volunteered for this running group that worked as guides for blind runners. Here he met a young man who had been kidnapped and blinded by a group of people in Africa when he was young. Now this man lived in Colorado and enjoyed running races.

Last week, in the pool, I saw a woman teaching a man how to swim. The lifeguard explained to me that this man was blind. I was shocked. Swimming blind sounds terrifying! It's hard enough with sight to not get anxiety in the water!

I posted on my friend's Facebook wall about how cool I thought this was and through the small community that is triathlon, the woman coaching this man was quickly identified and everyone was talking about how cool they thought it was that she was helping him learn to swim to do a tri in the fall.

Last night, they were back at the pool (whom I've now learned are Sasha - the coach, and Ethan, the athlete) and I introduced myself as the one who started the Facebook chain.

Today at work I told Jeff about it and he sent me this article: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_13613618
As you may have guessed... it's the same guy!

I'm so impressed by what Ethan's doing, but as Sasha said, everyone has their story.

It's easy to look at someone's challenges and weigh them as more or less challenging than our own. I've recently given up on trying to complete Colfax marathon because a short-term injury set back my training and I won't be able to truly reach that distance by 5/18. That said, I think something great came out of the hard training I had been doing - speed and strength! While a marathon might not be on the table for next month, a half certainly is, and I imagine it's going to be a pretty good one!

Ethan's decision to learn how to swim so he can do a triathlon may seem like a huge feat. I mean, it definitely is, but he has been blind for most of his life now and in the water, he doesn't regard it as a reason why he "can't" do something. I've been around him twice now in the water and he is struggling just the same as any newbie in the water. I see him dealing with the same form problems I did when I first started - breathing naturally, not displacing body position, high elbows, even strokes. He's a strong guy - mentally and physically - and I'm sure he'll learn, just through description instead of demonstration.

It has got me thinking that time, effort, and dedication to a goal can bring you to it. If he can do a tri, I can do a marathon, but it will take patience and hard work. All told, I probably could suffer through the race in May, but I don't want to suffer. I want to finish a marathon with a sense that I worked hard and did a good job. I'll be postponing it for now, but that doesn't mean I won't keep working.

Similarly, last night, I looked back on my training from before I did my first Olympic distance triathlon. I couldn't find a single workout over 1800 yards. In fact the one I did find that was 1800 yards, I didn't do, and it was estimated that it would take me about 1:06 to finish the workout. Sheesh! Now I hesitate to even get in the pool unless I'm doing 2000 m (just under 2200 y) and that only takes me between 45-50 minutes. (Last night, 2000 m took me 47:17, to give perspective.)

When I first started swimming it felt like it would never end. I still vividly remember the workout, hanging on the side of the pool, when Coach Brett stopped to ask me if I was "ok" because I'd been hanging there for so long! I told him I was "resting between sets." I mean, I was. I was super tired, but also just REALLY TERRIBLE at swimming. 3 years later (those workouts were from April 2011)....I'm not terribly fast, but I'm pretty good at it!

Your goals may not come immediately, but sometimes if you put in long, hard hours, they will come eventually. It's important not to fixate on your weaknesses, but acknowledge them. Embrace your strength, and the rest will follow.