Sometimes things happen in life that don’t make sense. I’ve been on the receiving end of several of those in the past week. The easiest one to share publicly was news this morning that the MRI results on my foot make it clear I won’t be racing Ironman Texas next Saturday…
And it doesn’t make one bit of sense.
There are times when bad news actually does make sense. We reap what we sow. We get what we deserved. If I’m speeding and a policeman pulls me over, that’s not “bad luck” – it was a deserved outcome. Our lives are full of these, and they often provide a “yield” sign, that if followed, places us on a better path going forward.
However, this one simply does not. In my case, I had been very careful in my mileage buildup, nutrition, sleep and just about everything else. Coming off of the Race Across America training in 2015, my cycling was solid, and I felt like my run fitness was the best it had ever been in terms of Ironman prep. Just 7 days prior to the injury, I’d run a solo 22 miler on tired legs (100 mile bike previous day) at just over 6:30/mile pace. 5 days ago, I didn’t have any trouble cruising 3 miles at 5:55 pace on a little mini-tempo session. The fastest 50+ AG time ever at IMTX is 9:44. With a decent day, my training indicated a 9:15 was well within reach.
But to get to the finish line, you’ve got to get to the starting line. And I’ll be sitting at home…
A quick sidenote to those folks who may not participate in athletic events and question why missing an event due to an injury is so heart-breaking, here are a couple of comparisons:
- Imagine investing 20 hrs/week attending a semester-long college class, studying, completing papers, taking exams, etc. Then, on the day before the final, when you’re completely ready to earn your “A,” you are informed that the University has decided to cancel the course and no credit will be given.
- Or you spend 4 months working on the perfect presentation for work. You pour your heart and soul into the preparation. Everything is perfect. On the morning of the presentation, your computer – containing all of your research, documents and slides, is stolen from your car.
- Or you spend the entire summer building an addition onto your home. All day, every weekend and several week nights devoted to making it just right. Three days before the celebration, you return home from work to see a fire has destroyed all of your work.
That’s exactly how it feels to the athlete who spends months preparing, only to sit on the sidelines on the big day.
So now what?
At the moment, the news is too fresh (less than 2 hrs ago)… Stages of grief and all that to work through. Deep down, I believe firmly in the promise of Romans 8:28. But at the moment, it just doesn’t make sense. And yes, I also fully understand that in the light of what so many other folks are going through with a wide range of (much more serious) personal issues, this pales by comparison. But it still hurts. It’s still discouraging.
And that’s life.
As a Wellness Coach, your clients will face similar situations regularly. When they do, it’s not your “answers” they need (because there really aren’t any). It’s you.
More to come – which I suppose is much of the answer in the first place…
