I'm sitting around tonight feeling disappointed. Surprisingly so.
I'm going climbing - that's not the disappointing part. In July, I'll be joining two of my friends from Kilimanjaro and climbing Mt. Elbrus. Elbrus is in Russia, in the Northern Caucasus. It's the highest peak in Europe, one of the 7 summits.
OK, that's not at all disappointing. In fact, that's quite exciting. But yesterday, while I was searching around on the internet, I found a race - an ultra marathon around Elbrus. The race is scheduled for a few days after my climb.
I quickly found myself all a-flutter at the possibility. A real mountain race. A tough mountain race. There were two races to choose from: a 28K trail race (the safer bet), and an 81K ultra marathon around Mt. Elbrus (the one my mind kept returning to). There was also a mountaineering traverse and and adventure race, both for teams. The timing was perfect. Well, maybe not perfect - I would just be coming off a big climb, but I would already be there.
I fretted about the wisdom of trying a race right after climbing. I would be tired, my legs would be tired. On the plus side, I would already be acclimatized. I sent out messages to friends - just how crazy is this? I emailed my coach and my friends, Fred and Charlie. They both have done some very impressive endurance events and also climb, which is its own kind of endurance event. They both understand what's really involved. I like to think of them as my crazy barometer. If I run an idea past them and one of them says, "I don't know, Julie, not sure that's such a good idea," then I know that I am way over the line!
But the funny thing is, they never say that. They understand what it takes. They also know me. They know I'm serious in my understanding of the situation, my consideration, and my preparation. No matter how much I may joke about things, I take my preparation seriously.
And so, as I suspected, Fred did his checking, talked about the difficulties, but encouraged me to try. Charlie, who I'll be climbing with, thought it sounded like fun and thought I should try to stay higher on the mountain to acclimatize. Neil, my coach, thought it would be a good challenge for me. He always laughs and tells me I like challenges that are just beyond my reach. And then he tells me all the reasons it makes perfect sense for me to try.
I put in an application - excited, but nervous. I got it in just at the last minute - the deadline was today. I went to sleep dreaming of mountains.
But this morning I had an email waiting for me from the race directors. They have canceled the event due to lack of applicants. (Does this mean I was the only person crazy enough to sign on?) This would have been the inaugural event, and the region has been closed off and on in the last few years, so they had a tough time getting the word out.
I'm disappointed. I'm really disappointed. It's odd since I only found out about it yesterday. For less than one day I thought I would be doing a really hard, but cool race. It's not like I had a lot of time invested in the idea. I spent most of the day yesterday trying to decide just how crazy an idea it was. I only decided right before bed.
But I think goals are like that. Often, the hardest part is deciding to commit. We dither; we debate. We are sometimes paralyzed by indecision. Once we decide, though, we've already taken a step. Once the decision is made, we're wedded to the idea. We're already moving toward the goal. We have taken action. Once that barrier has been broken, each consequent step is easier.
That's true no matter what size the goal or what type. Fitness/health, or something else. Large or small. The process is the same. We consider; we decide; we act.
Because deciding is action.
The distance doesn't matter; it is only the first step that is difficult. ~ Marie Anne de Vichy-Chamrond
That was today's Life-Cise Daily Tip. It seemed an appropriate quote for the day.
Julie
OK, that's not at all disappointing. In fact, that's quite exciting. But yesterday, while I was searching around on the internet, I found a race - an ultra marathon around Elbrus. The race is scheduled for a few days after my climb.
I quickly found myself all a-flutter at the possibility. A real mountain race. A tough mountain race. There were two races to choose from: a 28K trail race (the safer bet), and an 81K ultra marathon around Mt. Elbrus (the one my mind kept returning to). There was also a mountaineering traverse and and adventure race, both for teams. The timing was perfect. Well, maybe not perfect - I would just be coming off a big climb, but I would already be there.
I fretted about the wisdom of trying a race right after climbing. I would be tired, my legs would be tired. On the plus side, I would already be acclimatized. I sent out messages to friends - just how crazy is this? I emailed my coach and my friends, Fred and Charlie. They both have done some very impressive endurance events and also climb, which is its own kind of endurance event. They both understand what's really involved. I like to think of them as my crazy barometer. If I run an idea past them and one of them says, "I don't know, Julie, not sure that's such a good idea," then I know that I am way over the line!
But the funny thing is, they never say that. They understand what it takes. They also know me. They know I'm serious in my understanding of the situation, my consideration, and my preparation. No matter how much I may joke about things, I take my preparation seriously.
And so, as I suspected, Fred did his checking, talked about the difficulties, but encouraged me to try. Charlie, who I'll be climbing with, thought it sounded like fun and thought I should try to stay higher on the mountain to acclimatize. Neil, my coach, thought it would be a good challenge for me. He always laughs and tells me I like challenges that are just beyond my reach. And then he tells me all the reasons it makes perfect sense for me to try.
I put in an application - excited, but nervous. I got it in just at the last minute - the deadline was today. I went to sleep dreaming of mountains.
But this morning I had an email waiting for me from the race directors. They have canceled the event due to lack of applicants. (Does this mean I was the only person crazy enough to sign on?) This would have been the inaugural event, and the region has been closed off and on in the last few years, so they had a tough time getting the word out.
I'm disappointed. I'm really disappointed. It's odd since I only found out about it yesterday. For less than one day I thought I would be doing a really hard, but cool race. It's not like I had a lot of time invested in the idea. I spent most of the day yesterday trying to decide just how crazy an idea it was. I only decided right before bed.
But I think goals are like that. Often, the hardest part is deciding to commit. We dither; we debate. We are sometimes paralyzed by indecision. Once we decide, though, we've already taken a step. Once the decision is made, we're wedded to the idea. We're already moving toward the goal. We have taken action. Once that barrier has been broken, each consequent step is easier.
That's true no matter what size the goal or what type. Fitness/health, or something else. Large or small. The process is the same. We consider; we decide; we act.
Because deciding is action.
The distance doesn't matter; it is only the first step that is difficult. ~ Marie Anne de Vichy-Chamrond
That was today's Life-Cise Daily Tip. It seemed an appropriate quote for the day.
Julie
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