First Five of Twenty Five...

As we're about to turn the calendar from January to February and I've already opened up my 2025 Season in Taking Running Seriously; and I have yet to post my first blog of the new year. I'm going to express some wisdom I've gained over the decades but didn't realize it until the last few years. Here are five thoughts that have come to my mind about the sport.

Make your journey unique to you. I'm sure every athlete who has been in the sport for a few years has said this in some form or fashion; but I feel like this is the first time I have expressed this to myself and to others. So many have said this to me but I guess I wasn't listening. As I have gone through some really rough times in the sport; I've had to change the course which helped in making it unique to me. From race to race. From season to season. From one decade to the next. This journey will continue to be unique. No one's journey in the sport is an exact carbon copy of another athletes. 

Find a fun way to document your journey; you never know what doors it opens. This is where for me; this blog has been a fun way to document my journey in the sport. I started this blog in September of maybe October 2007 when I had started telling a good amount of people that I had signed up for my first full Ironman in Coeur d' Alene Idaho taking place the following June. I wanted a space to document everything and nothing that had to do with my journey in the sport which was basically insane. One of my friends Brian had a blog about triathlon; so I was like 'what the heck'. I found a love for writing as a way to express myself through words. My blog opened the door in finding a new interest. I'm not huge on social media and over the years I've learned it's not a good place for me; so this has been a wonderful way to keep my journey unique to me. I look at views for each post and love reading the comments on my blog when they come along; but for me it's cool to see how my journey has evolved and has kept me motivated with each season.

Own your accomplishments and be PROUD of them. This one has been tough for me because of how the sport has changed so much over the last two decades. This one is a continuous and ongoing work in progress. Truly deep down: I'm super PROUD of what I've done so far in the sport but it's hard to own them. This is a BIG goal I have for myself as I have a stacked 2025 season. There are several things I'm doing differently this year but I know I'll get there. Heck; I've been in the sport for how long now? That's an accomplishment I will always own and always be happy with. 

Build a positive and supportive community; no matter who is in it. I've learned from over the years my community is one that I've had to build. It's changed so much over the years. Some people have been constant and most of them have been very supportive in a positive way. I tried fitting in by being part of so many clubs and groups over the years; whether online or in person and it didn't work out. I walked away from each of them with at least one friend; so they've become part of a community I had to build. I've spent so much energy figuring out the community part of the sport. As individual as the sport it: I want to be able to have the ability to cheer others on who cheer me on as well as that will keep me in the sport even longer. Community is a big thing for me and I'm happy I've been able to figure out what that community is.

Keep finding ways to fuel your fire. As I go through the seasons, I always have to find something that will help motivate me. I still have the passion and fire to train and race; it's my me time and it bring me so much joy but sometimes I need something extra to keep me going when I don't feel like it. Some things I've done over the past few seasons have been creating my own custom design to wear while training and racing, I've mixed up what I write here on my blog (something different each season) besides the usual race recaps, and I've found some passion (well you can call it addiction at this point) in trying out a new formats of multisport races I haven't done and even different distances in some of the singular sports that make up triathlon.  Whatever comes to mind as this sport is so much of a mental thing as it is also physical thing; I'll try it out and if in the end it gets me through a training cycle, a race, and even a season, then it's a way to fuel my fire.