Know Your reasons

I am signed up for Ironman Wisconsin 2008. One of the things that I keep reading and hearing is you must know your reasons for doing Ironman if you want to succeed. Here are my reasons and my contract with myself.

Why am I doing Ironman?

I want to prove that I can be an athlete. That I can become greater than I am. Too many times I have hacked my athletic achievements. Too many times I’ve willed marathons instead of trained for them. Too many times I’ve competed when I hadn’t done the training. Too many times my depression and self loathing have prevented me from competing at my full potential. I will prove that through training and dedication I will out perform my every expectation. Through training and dedication I will perform at my peak level of performance. I will not skip workouts because I just didn’t feel like it or I felt a little achey. I will perform every work out to its fullest and give each workout and each training session all that I can give it keeping in mind the ultimate goal of proving that I can with hard work and dedication complete an Ironman. Only not just complete but perform, race, compete and excel at the sport. I will not allow myself to spiral into depression. I will not let me be self defeating. I will look at the positive and always try to improve my training, racing and competition. The work will not be done until after post Ironman recovery. The training will not be complete until October 7 2008 after recovery the race doesn’t end until I have recovered.

Focus only on what you can control let the rest be up to God. If something happens during the race and it is outside of swimming, biking, running, and transition. You can not be blamed, you are not responsible. God will take care of you and his plan is only visible to himself. If I am taken up during the race I want to be taken up knowing that at the very moment I had been taken up I did my absolute best. I will not hold back during the race.