Random and occasional thoughts on

Ten years ago, after a 3 year stretch, I crossed the finish line of my first Ironman race.  Those 3 years saw me go from couch potato to Ironman.  I lost about 100 pounds and rarely took more than a day off per week.  How did I do that?  What was my motivation?  A common phrase lately is "What is your WHY?" where people are encouraged to find their motivation to help them overcome obstacles.  When I started running, my WHY was to spend time with one of my kids and get healthier.  When we crossed the finish line of our first half-marathon, he decided to "retire" from running at the ripe age of 13.  I was hooked and realized that I could achieve a long-time dream that I thought was out of my reach because I thought I was not a runner , completing an Ironman (which includes a 26.2 mile running marathon).  Finishing an Ironman race became my WHY.  That worked great until I crossed the finish line of the race.  Having accomplished ...

Seems odd now that I've done 2 Ironman races, about a dozen marathons as well as many other shorter running races, but "I'm not a runner" was my belief for most of my life.  Why did I think that? Let me tell you a story. I was about 16 years old and was a competitive swimmer.  Not just a little competitive, but I swam with people that qualified for the Olympics and on a good day I could beat them.  One day after swim practice, the coach called us over and announced that the pool would be closed for maintenance for 2 weeks so there would be no practice.  Even though I loved swimming and the training we went through, I cheered with the rest of my teammates until... Coach called about 10 of us out and said that we should meet him by the new coliseum that was being built nearby.  I was confused. I hadn't heard anything about a pool there, but coach said to just wear shorts and comfortable shoes. I showed up and waited for instructions.  Coach said "run...