You Can Change or Stay the Same

As winter blows its cold breath across the cornfields of Iowa, my body and mind enter a type of hibernation period each year.

The bike rides of summer are replaced with shorter jaunts on my basement trainer. The enjoyable 10-mile runs of July are replaced with the nearly unbearable repetition of the treadmill. Swims in lakes are replaced with lap after lap after lap in the YMCA pool.

And for me, the blissful days of being outside as much as possible are replaced with nights on the couch watching movies contemplating life and plans for the year ahead.

A few days ago I watched "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" for the second time and was once again struck by a scene in which Benjamin Button leaves his family to start all over.

In the movie, we learn that growing younger (even staying the same age) is really a curse. Humans were designed to grow old. And growing old is a blessing.

But growing old doesn't mean we have to stay the same. We can change.

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Right now, as I type, I'm watching the Ford Ironman World Championships on TV. It's a call for me. Toward 2010. Toward my 70.3 Half Ironman in June. Toward change.

The sessions on the bike trainer will need to get longer. The treadmill and cold runs outside will need to become more bearable. The lap after lap after lap will need to turn to lap after lap after lap after lap...

"For what it's worth, it's never too late...to be whoever you want to be."

The Ironman continues on TV right now and it's screaming at me to get going. To be who I want to be.

Spring is never as far away as we think.

Even during the cold, dreary months of an Iowa winter.

Enjoy the ride,
Damm