Journey to Kona Day 217: Finding Myself

My wife recently told me that something's changed in regards to my general demeanor and attitude.  Ever since I was offered a part-time job to do things that I truly enjoy without the typical stresses that are normally attached to a job, something has clicked. Since last year when I walked away from my last job, something wasn't right. I wasn't sure what mattered.  I was unsettled.  Training for Kona has helped me to some degree, but even that didn't feel right until the job offer came.  I think the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.  Balance matters.  Ever since I got offered an opportunity to do the things I love, my love for training for Kona felt right. Ironically, I've had the best couple of months of training that I've ever had, and my fitness level is at an all-time high.

This journey to Kona has had a few twists and turns.  I've been learning things about myself.  In the past, I haven't been certain about how much I truly loved exercise, often "blaming" my addiction to triathlons on a combination of wanting to be healthy and satisfying my type A tendencies.  All of a sudden, as everything falls into place, things feel more natural.  I decided to spend 8 days in Kona prior to the race, to fully enjoy the experience.  It also allows me to participate in the practice swim the Sunday before the race.  The fact that I've signed up to do Ironman St. George, instead of retiring from ironman after completing Kona told me something. I'm already thinking about other races to do.

I really do enjoy ironman.  I really do enjoy the training. However, I also need the right balance, otherwise, everything doesn't fall into place.  It's kind of funny how that works.  I remember after I retired for the first time, I thought that my ironman training would explode.  But, it didn't.  I blamed it on being distracted by other things, including an entertainment business diversion.  In retrospect, I was unsettled again.  I didn't have my balance, and so nothing really made sense.  But now it does. I've found myself, and with that I've verified my love for the sport of triathlon and the pursuit of ironman experiences.