the WHY

When you are running at midnight on a dark country road and recalling every disembowelment scene from every horror movie ever made it is very important to not be wearing headphones with the music jacked up to 11. There are two reasons for this:

1. Because it is vitally important that you hear the chainsaw wielding maniac as he primes his weapon and not be surprised by his sudden appearance

2. Because you need a long run in the pitch black of east bumblef#$k PA with only the sounds of your feet clomping as your only companion to be able to hear yourself answer the question ‘Why am I out here doing something so monumentally stupid?’

It’s a question all triathletes have asked themselves since the dawn of the Tri-Age. That is what I was seeking Friday night. The big WHY will become vitally important when I am at Mile 18 of the marathon of my first iron distance tri and my left ITB burns and my right foot feels like falling off and my stomach is bloated and about to reverse gears. The WHY will be the only thing to keep me moving forward. Mile 18 is no place to start asking why. I need to have that answer long before I reach the starting line.

The obvious answer is ‘I want to be an Iron Man.’ Cue DI Sargent Foley ‘my grandmamma wants to be an ironman’ http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/an-officer-and-a-gentleman-in-about-30-seconds/f92704e6faf6ba0b8503f92704e6faf6ba0b8503-134444155872

I’d retort ‘Well I’ve got something to prove.’

‘To Who?’ Mile 18 would reply ‘you could call a cab and go back to bed and tell everyone at work you won the damn thing and they wouldn’t care.’

‘It’d be for me proof that Diabetes can’t stop me. It may slow me down but it won’t stop me from doing what I want with my life. That at the end I made my days count and didn’t shrivel up and hide from life because of my lazy arse pancreas not working hard enough’

That seems to be the WHY for now. I’ll keep pushing and prodding myself to try and be sure but we’ll see if that answer is enough on a dark lonely country road in September. :)