stuff to share....

I haven't been sleeping much lately, and often times I wake up at 2:30 or 3:00. I pass the the time staring at my phone, reading the blogs on my Google Reader. I was pretty impressed with what I read this morning, and I thought I would share some parts. If you get a chance, I really recommend reading the original posts, which I linked.

Carrie / Motivation & A Few Mental Notes

"So, there it was...my first really long training weekend of this season and it was solid and successful. So why am I doing this again?? You know...I'm not sure really because there is no black and white, well-defined trophy at the end. There's no money earned or accolades from adoring fans. My reasons are endless and few all at the same time. I'm doing it because at the end of a long day (even when I've bitched and moaned about being tired and sore and cranky), I'm just plain HAPPY. (mental note #4: If it makes you happy, it can't be that bad)."

Elizabeth / The Guts of T3 Athletes

"As adults, I think we tend to only want to do things that we do well. We don't want to make fools our of ourselves. We don't try new things because we fear we might fail. We can get caught in the rat race mentality that it's not worth doing if it doesn't get us anywhere. And heaven forbid we should not be the best at whatever we do.

But triathlons are humbling in that way. For most of us, there's (at least!) one part of the training that we just don't do as well as the next guy/gal. There's typically one piece of it that always takes more physical or mental or emotional energy because it's just harder than some other part.

Yes, for each one of us it's something...or a lot of somethings. But for some reason (and I think that reason is also different for each of us), we keep showing up. We keep getting back out there - on the road, at the PTC, on the Town Lake trail, in the water - and pushing ourselves a little more. And that, in my opinion, takes guts and courage.

And lastly, my favorite of all. My friend Barbara, who I love to quote from time to time, and who is not doing a triathlon or anything like that - she is just LIVING.

Barbara /Leaving the Comfort Zone:

"It’s those times we have felt challenged, when we have confronted fear or failure or harsh elements that we remember and cherish. It’s when we have left our comfort zone that we feel most alive."

“Everyone needs a quest as an excuse for living,” Bruce Chatwin (author, adventurer)