My Bigger Bowl

Back in July, Blogger IM Training posted the following:


"In a world that believed in the limitations of man, Roger Bannister dared to imagine. He imagined that he could run a sub-4 minute mile, a feat that was far beyond the collective imagination of the time. Yet once he stretched beyond these mindless limitations and broke the 4-minute barrier, the floodgates of imagination were let loose. Just as suddenly, many others dared to imagine within the expanded Bannister walls. And just as quickly, dozens of others ran faster than a 4 minute mile.

As triathletes, it is up to us to challenge ourselves and stretch the limits of our minds. As we do, so our bodies will follow.In a funny way we are like goldfish – we will always expand to the size of our bowl. No matter how big the challenge set before us, we will find a way to succeed.

Think you can’t do an Ironman?I think you are wrong.Buy a bigger bowl.Dare to dream. Dare to peek outside the confines of your imagination. Stretch out your arm and put your hand through the fire. Grab hold of the other side and pull yourself through.

I promise, you won’t get burned."

At that point, I had just DNF'd in my second 1/2 Iron race--succumbing to heat and the "I'm not having any fun" blues. I told my husband to shoot me if I ever signed up for a full iron race. The following few days were tough: I hated myself for wimping out. I could have finished that race, and I should have finished it. Talk about leaving a bad taste in your mouth. My thesis professor told me, "Well, now that you know how if feels, you'll never do that again," and I hope he's right.

I am waking up every morning thinking, "Holy crap, what am I doing?" That bigger fishbowl just cost me $450, but I'm going to try my best to grow into it.