Tommy is Engaged

Somewhere between start and stop, begin and end, on and off, I said something I now regret. 

Subbing for the 0530 class, and the protocol I selected, cooked the goose up pretty good. Junior and I then put in a spirited left session, today is his 16th birthday, and then it was back to the club for my regularly scheduled 0845 class. 

Where, of course, I dialed it up once again, this time more to keep me involved and motivated by the challenge than anything else. I have found over the years that this tactic helps me get through double sessions.  If I am actively pushing an intensity level offering a serious challenge, I need to be able to rise to the occasion, compete and get to the finish line. Please keep in mind here that I am still suffering from PIMD (Post IronMan Depression) from my last long-course event up at Ironman Canada in 2005, where I dropped out half way into the run, taking a DNF with me. The decision I made at that time, the nano-second that I justified my pathetic response to fatigue and sulked back to the hotel, has haunted my every day since. I have had to live with that failure every day for 13 years, or 4,745 days if your like keeping tabs. Maybe you could send me a Hallmark ‘sympathy’ card on the 5,000th day (Middle of July 2019). 

Armed with this back-story, in the heat of battle this morning, absolutely boiling over with endorphins and probably a touch of adrenalin as well, I entered into the hall of the mountain king, the podium of the motivational speaker. I figure that there is no better time than when I am actually involved in the work I am speaking of. Breathing hard and sweating profusely adds a nice visual touch when talking about effort. 

I am rolling through the buzzwords of success, trying to get the class as amped, committed and inspired as I am. My heart rate tells me that the option most likely to succeed is a series of one word descriptors, delivered with emphasis and operatic precision. The words become more than the complication of vowels and consonants, they take on animation and color, sizzling with drama. You/WE must be,

C-O-U-R-A-G-E-O-U-S

COMMITTED 

TIRELESS AND FEARLESS

FOCUSED

OPEN

PREPARED

RELAXED

DEDICATED

DISCIPLINED

COMPASSIONATE

EMPATHETIC

HONEST

PRESENT 

AWAKE

AWARE

A-L-I-V-E

And, I finish the overly dramatic soliloquy as The Underture from Tommy winds down, ‘I plan on using this a thousand more times today because it encapsulates all of those wholesome actions just mentioned, I/ WE must be, absolutely:

E-N-G-A-G-E-D.

Engage with life my dear friends. Engage with life. 

I regret that I am 500 uses away and might not make it. But I will give best effort.