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It’s not often I peruse my Linkedin feed.
It’s fine, full of decent stories, lots of jargon, and a fair amount of self promotional nonsense.
But it is there, and thus, must occasionally be scrolled through.
Recently I read a post that opened with “Sometimes you just have to get on the damn plane”.
It was a story of a guy, moving from the US to the UK & starting a new life, new company, and new venture.
He’d hemmed and hawed over it for years until a trusted mentor told him to just get on the damn plane.
That story, like so many others, starts now with a leap of faith.
In life, at least the 32 years of life I’ve experienced, there will always be reasons not to do something.
Too hard, too long, don’t now how, don’t have time, doesn’t fit the lifestyle, doesn’t impress those nearby, too risky, too easy…
And on, and on, and on the list goes.
But there’s something magical about taking the leap. About committing to something beyond yourself – and really, committing to it.
Recently, one of my best friends (and… shameless plug… JMFitness Head Running Coach) Kevin, told me he would be training for Ironman Arizona in 2021.
I shouldn’t have been too surprised. He was among the first people I told about my intention to train for my first – but at the time, he was in the “I will never do that, no way” category – and here we are.
Kevin helped push me through that race, and also helped pick me up after a complete blowup at the Baltimore Marathon in 2019.
I had passively committed to trying to break 3 hours at the hilliest marathon on the east coast (probably). I never really trained for the speed, and while I knew that, I was still disappointed when I missed it by 18 some minutes.
After that race, I worked with Kevin to get an actual sub 3 hour marathon training plan and began training for New Jersey in 2020 – which, as you can guess, got canceled.
This was a HUGE bummer. In fact, my feelings could be measured in expletives, not adjectives.
I fell off the wagon hard.
3 months or so without running, doing workouts here and there, but not committed really to anything.
I got back into it with the loose goal of running the Patapsco Valley 50k, but about 2 months into that training, I severely sprained my ankle and was yet again, off the wagon.
Then Kevin told me about Ironman AZ.
And shit, if he can try to do a thing that he’d previously dubbed “hell no, no way, you’re crazy”, I could get my shit together and work towards my thing.
A second crack at that 2:55 marathon time.
A friend bought me that shirt for a reason I can’t remember, and it’s quite ironic for me.
I actually hated the bike during the Ironman. Hated it.
I would have ran that entire distance instead (lol maybe not but, hey.. whatever).
It serves as thought provoking, in a way though.
There will always be an easy way out. A shortcut, an excuse, a reason not to.
But that’s not really the point is it?
For me, at this very moment, that’s a 2:55 marathon.
I was closer than ever in terms of fitness before NJ got canceled.
But I wasn’t there.
The target now is Costal Delaware. April 18th, 2021. If that doesn’t run, then Delaware Marathon, the following week.
If that doesn’t run, we’ll find another.
2021 will have a race. That race will be 26.2 miles, and I will run that race in 2:55.