Will I run or will I crawl?

Well this past week has been a real mental challenge for me. My time is yet again being challenged by a slew of work related travel that is now coming my way. This poses a serious question, will I be able to properly train for my first Ironman race with business travel constantly interrupting my training ?

The Ironman race is simply a challenge that cannot be taken lightly. Folks in the Triathlon community are so used to training and racing that we often casually throw out the statement, "I think I'll do an Ironman next year". I hear it often and it seems to minimize the monumental task that this is ( could also be the monumental stupidity, but lets not go there).

Well having been training for it for well over 6 months and seeing the training for what it is, I can tell you its nothing to sneeze at. Its damned hard. In fact I have heard that the hardest part of an Ironman race is the actual training for it. It simply challenges you physically and mentally. And worse yet it is a challenge to the one resource I have the least of...time.

Well now I have even less than I did just a few weeks ago. With only a little over 3 months to go to my Ironman debut, I have been told I will be traveling during Peak training periods. When I first heard this I just felt I had to withdraw from the race. I contacted everyone that has helped me along up until now to confer and to complain, but I just felt this gigantic stress. I had this goal I had set out to accomplish, and now I had no time to train for it.

So I had made a decision to defer my race to next year. It was probably a smart decision. AT first I felt great, like an awesome weight was removed. But a few days later a feeling started to creep over me.

Deep down I could not shake the fact that I felt like a quitter. After all what the hell was I doing by racing an Ironman Anyways? I certainly am not going to win it. No

For me its simply about finishing it. Its about challenging myself in a way that I know I will have accomplished something. Its about proving I can do it, despite the challenges that get thrown my way. Isn't that what being an Ironman is really about?

So After conferring with my coach, and my wife, I decided to throw my hat back in the race.

I will do this one way or another, and if I need to crawl across the line then so be it.

Crazy

So just to leave you with the appropriate mental image, I bring you the immortal Julie Moss: