Giving Due Credit

We’ll have to see how things pan out……on Saturday with the first fitness test of the season, in the next several weeks when Ironman training gets really taxing, and come the big day in Coeur d’Alene……but things are going really good. And I hate to let the good times role without acknowledging that these are the good ol’ days before they end up behind me and I’m left wondering how to get ‘em back.

I have never been this fit in my life. I have an amazing wife that loves me, sacrifices her needs for mine, and puts up with me. My family is amazing and supportive and I have a monster family reunion in the Idaho mountains to look forward to after IM where we’ll celebrate what I hope one day Angie and I achieve – a 50 year anniversary. I love the Tricredibles and the friends and training buddies that are part of the team, and there’s nothing like representing with them at a race because I want to. It might be cool to be “sponsored” but I’d hate to feel I had to represent something or some brand because I have to. I’m not making any money at this hobby anyway.

Sometimes I take triathlon too seriously, sometimes I find I could care less. It’s a way of life for me that supports good health and being outside where I can marvel at all of God’s amazing glory, from the chirping of birds to a tail wind.

At any rate, the blessings have been numerous and I couldn’t be happier or more at peace with what God’s so generously put within my grasp.

I’m hoping I have a great race at White Lake on Saturday, and my dreams of getting a Kona slot at Ironman Coeur d’Alene are eating me up inside more than ever. Whether I get what I want or not, I hope I can train with everything I’ve got, give it my all on race day, and remember that any glory that follows is not my own but that of God and those around me that He put here to help me through this.

One of the things I love to do on training rides is pay attention to the clever quotes you see in front of churches. I like this one: “If He brings you to it, He will bring you through it.”

For all the trivialities of this adventure – just one insignificant guy trying to put all he has into one insignificant event on an insignificant day in an insignificant life – and I don’t want to lose sight of how little all this matters to the world……but this is what I’m able to do, for whatever reason, and it feels good.