More Things Triathlon/Marathon Has Taught Me

There are so many things I have learned about myself through marathon and triathlon that I feel like I could post about this every quarter.  Other things I’ve realized after finding out I had cancer, or just from growing older, but honestly, a lot of it comes from training and racing.

So, without further ado, here are a few more recent observations about things that marathon and triathlon have taught me. 

·         In light of recently running a marathon (like an idiot) with a stress fracture, I have learned that I have a ridiculously high pain tolerance. 

·         I have more patience than I ever imagined.   (Otherwise, how could I walk most of said marathon just to say I completed it?)

·         I’m better at pushing myself to max capacity for a very, very short period than I am at long, slow endurance. (Read: sprint versus ironman.)  This is the same with professional projects. I hate the kind that drag on and on. I always have to break those down into shorter, smaller tasks I can do in “bursts.”

·         I don’t like competing with people I know.  At a race, I may try to catch someone running in front of me because she’s a little faster and it motivates me.  If that person is my friend, though, I will think twice about it and even feel bad if I pass her. I also dislike non-race “contests:” pissing matches about who has it worse, who picked the winning (insert topic), why your training isn’t as good as mine, etc.  Who cares? No one is winning a gold medal at bitching, or at snarking on Facebook.

·         I like (and need) a lot of balance. This is the top reason I don’t see myself doing 140.6 ever (although everyone says never say never.)  I need to be able to skip a workout to have wine night with my friends.

·         I used to feel a little left out because I couldn’t afford the latest bells and whistles.  Over time, I realized that people who did have all those things weren’t that much happier and they weren’t exponentially faster, either.  I also began to develop a sense of pride at finding good deals on things.  Now I have to see a lot of return for me to spend any money on gadgets.  This doesn’t matter if it’s the latest Michael Kors bag, a bottle of chateauneauf du pape, a Garmin 15000xt, or carbon wheels. I ain’t winnin’ thousands on races, so I ain’t spen’in’ thousands on gear. Three words for you: 1)budget 2)Craigslist 3)Amazon

Oh, and I hate wetsuits.

That's all for now.