It's time I start writing again. It has been almost a year. Ten months. Ten months is too long. Life has been too loud and I just haven't known what to write. Do I write about my training? My races? The books I am reading? The food I am eating? The people I am meeting? Current events? The person peeing and yelling in the alley while I work? Meditation? My friend's battle against cancer? Violence and Guns? Sports Psychology? Technology? Marketing? Media? Politics? Dating? Music? Literature? Business?
See... brain...on...fire...life...is...too...loud.
The short version of what happened in the past ten months -- I put everything on hold to train for Ironman.
Punchline: I killed it. I far surpassed any goal I ever could have made for myself and came in with a 14:19:09.
This summarizes it all.
The focus was beautiful. I put aside worrying about romance and money and politics and activism and pretty much every non-Ironman part of my life. It was all I thought about and all I did and it was wonderful. I owe the world (and myself... and my coach) a detailed race report, but quite simply it was the best day of my life. I have never been more proud of myself.
So now? It's like the earplugs have been taken out and THE WORLD IS JUST TOO DARN LOUD. I am sure a lot of my friends think I am being pretty snobby and aloof, but I just can't handle a lot of communication right now. My apologies up front to all of you. I don't know when this will go away.
When I get into this type of chaos, I know I need to take a moment to just pause. And listen. And trust that what is happening around me may feel crazy, but it's necessary and telling me something. Trust it.
Time to re-establish a meditation/sitting practice. Signed up for a meditation class at
Shambhala Meditation Center DC and in my confirmation email the coodinator of the class mentioned just happens to be an old friend from MIDDLE SCHOOL.
Time to re-establish a physical training plan. Coach and I are working towards more weight loss, speed, and power in the off season. No Ironman in 2016. It's time to focus on Marathon.
Time to focus on healthy eating. I ate cookies for lunch and dinner yesterday. Not cool.
Time to experiment and try new things -- read new books, go to new workouts and social events.
Oh, and I ran a half marathon yesterday. Was about three minutes off my from Personal Record, but still 10 min faster than a year ago and 4 min faster than my March half marathon time. Oh -- and I hadn't trained really. I slept through my alarm, woke up at 6:55 am for an 8 am race start. So now I am officially the kind of person who roles out of bed and runs a half marathon.
I am happy with that.
Labels: ironman
