Goals again

I came across this photo of me as I was preparing to write about my 2017 goals. it brings back all the pain of IMCHOO2017, and yet also brings me great pride. The truck and the bus that are about to pass me are what are known as the sweep vehicles. They pick up the riders who either can’t or won’t finish in the allotted time. They were on their next to last sweep of the bike course. As the truck passed me, the guy in the passenger seat told me I still had time to finish the course. He encouraged me to keep going, and then he repeated those words to Lou so that when I caught up with him Lou could reinforce that I would finish. I just needed to dig deep and keep those wheels rolling at least as fast if not faster than I was going at that moment. I had every reason to stop. It would have been so easy to just pull over, hop on that bus, and spare myself the pain of finishing that ride and then running six more hours. I can’t say I wasn’t just a little bit tempted, but I had set a goal for myself, and I wasn’t about to get on that bus. I’m so glad I didn’t give up. Although I’m sure I will ask myself during the long training days ahead for Ironman Arizona in 2018 why I put myself through this again, I’m STILL not going to give up. Its easy to set goals, but its not always so easy to see them through to the end. Here’s to seeing our big goals of 2018 to the end.