Yes, I realize that ultimately, the race is run by you and the accomplishments get credited to you. But in the end, it’s not just about you. The only way that it could be is if you’re not a PT athlete, have a genetic background of a mix along the lines of Michael Phelps/Lance Armstrong (without the doping)/Apolo Ohno and are independently wealthy. That probably covers .00001% of all Triathletes out thre.
For the rest of the Triathlon universe, there’s someone else helping you to succeed. Whether it’s a coach making sure you’re on track, sponsors making sure you’ve got everything you need to succeed, or a guide helping you if you’re a PT athlete, others have your back and are helping. Because of that, there are two-way streets to ensure that you succeed.
As a visually impaired athlete that’s part of Dare2Tri’s Development Team, there’s a long list of people that are helping me. I couldn’t do any of this without it. As such, I need to make sure that I’ve got several different pieces in line before the gun/horn goes off – training/race prep, guide and proper branding.
While I know there are hurdles, I’m doing everything that I can to get the training in. I’ll admit that the running is the biggest ‘fail’ at this point. But I’m still trying to push forward with it – even if it’s sometimes at a snail’s pace. And it isn’t just for personal pride or the desire to continue moving forward, it’s also to have a good end result for those that have put their support and resources behind me.
Early on, one of my guides told me ‘it’s not about me, it’s about you and your race’. At the time, I understood and agreed with them. However, experiences over the last two years make me disagree with that sentiment. As I said at the beginning, what gets publicly reflected/recorded is the athlete (and not the guide). Even still, the guide is giving up their time and their race to help ensure that you have a successful one. Both through the time you spend practing and training, as well as race day. In return for that, I believe that you need to ensure not only that you’re ready to race but that you’re both on the same page for the expected and unexpected throughout. If my mindset was ‘I’m running this race, just be equipment’, not only would I fail, but I’d also lose guides quickly. It needs to be a two-way street of communication, respect and commitment for everything to work.
As I mentioned earlier, I could not be doing any of the Triathlon stuff (practices, races, etc.) without a lot of support from a long list of people. For the organizations/companies that have provided this support, not only do I want to make sure that I’ve got the branding appropriately displayed (especially given if it’s a supported race or not), but I want to have a good ‘end product’ for them. I can’t always control what happens in a race (more on that in the next post), but I do need to be doing everything possible to have a good race and deal with whatever adversity happens.
They could have given that support or those resources to others; but they chose to give it to me. This is one of many reasons that I do not believe in DNF (Did Not Finish). The best example of this being last year where I chose to walk the bike back 3-4 miles after double-flatting and finish the run rather than pulling out As I said, you can’t control everything that happens on the course, but you can control yourself. You can let a situation break you (whether it’s mental or physical), or you can push through it. And quite honestly, I believe that you owe it to everyone supporting you to give it your all every time. That’s the only way to push forward.
