Happier when you don't hit a goal?
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Moderators: k9car363, alicefoeller | Reply |
2016-07-13 9:46 PM |
89 | Subject: Happier when you don't hit a goal? Sort of an odd topic. Backstory: in order to whip me back into shape after some surguries and broken bones, the wife signed us up for a series of races this year cumulating in a HIM distance race (we have since signed up for another HIM and full distance tho). I had not done a tri since 2001, so it was odd starting from zero in November. Fast forward 7 months and I'm 30# lighter and starting to get back back in *decent* shape and feeling pretty good for our "A" race when 2 weeks before, something goes "ping" in my knee. I can hardly walk for about a week and don't do any running for the last 2 weeks leading up to the race. I nearly switched to the aquabike but decided to just take some ibuprofin and grunt through it (yeah, smart, I know). The "A" race is small, with maybe 75 people toeing the line, so I had hoped and trained like I wanted to finish first OA but now knew I had to swim and bike well enough to go into the run with a huge lead in order to hobble through and hold off the rest of the field. It didn't work. I swam OK and got out of the water in 1st with a couple minutes lead over the next closest competitor (actually an aquabiker beat me, but I'm not counting him) but at about mile 30 the eventual overall winner blew by me on a hill and while I hung with him for a while, I knew I couldn't pass and put enough time into him to be able to survive the run. After that it went downhill. Finished bike in 2nd but my knee was pretty severely limiting and I got passed by 4 more people between miles 7 and 13 to finish 6th OA. But here's the funny part, and what got me thinking/prompted this thread: when I looked at the race photos, the ones from the bike where I am in 1st, I do NOT look happy, and the ones AFTER I got passed I am all smiles and just look happier. It got me thinking. When I was out front, I was not having as much fun. Not by a long shot. I was too worried about being caught, strategy, fueling, etc, but once I got passed, I knew there was no chance of hitting my goal. Yeah, it meant I had failed at that ONE pie in the sky goal, but at the same time I think (in retrospect) that letting go of it allowed me to really just ENJOY the race more, and I did just that: hi 5-ing people on the course, cheering for others, stopping to chat woth volunteers at the aid stations, etc.. I really do think I had a better time when I wasn't worrying about how I would place. Anybody else experience this or am I just trying to make myself feel better about not having the day I had envisioned? |
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2016-07-13 10:30 PM in reply to: 0 |
Master 8247 Eugene, Oregon | Subject: RE: Happier when you don't hit a goal? I think they are just different kinds of happiness. There is the joy of really pushing your limits and accomplishing something you (or, better yet, anybody else) didn't really know if you could do, and doing a great place or time or whatever. Then there is another kind of satisfaction that can come from just enjoying the vibe of a race for its own sake, being part of a great event, contributing to a worthy cause, giving something back to the volunteers and spectators, etc. I have been at endurance sports for almost 37 of my 47 years, and have done some of both. I have raced my butt off for PB's, wins, money, qualifying for Olympic Trials, an NCAA team title, and, more recently, 70.3 Worlds Qualification, and I found those races gratifying. I also ran recreationally for years in between college and my early 40's, and enjoyed doing races because they were on a beautiful course, or were for a good cause, or whatever. I once got the stomach flu the week before a half-marathon in Cambodia and wasn't sure I'd even be able to run. By the day of the race, I was a bit better but in no condition to even come close to my race goal of 1:30 (this was in my early 40's). Instead, I took my camera and just jogged the course at a comfortable pace, stopping when I wanted to take pictures. I think I high-fived every child in the province that morning. It was an experience I'll never forget--something that I probably never would have done in my younger, more competitive days. Twice in "elite" races when I was younger, my race fell apart and in one case I ended up slogging in the last ten miles of a marathon with cramps and heat exhaustion; in another being hauled onto the "slag wagon" when I couldn't make a cutoff. In both cases, I ended up meeting really interesting people.In the former case, I spent over an hour talking with a young woman runner from Sri Lanka who was in similar straits. We were both suffering badly from heat, humidity, and inadequate drinks on the course, but we talked each other through to finish (World University Games in 1989 in Germany). That led to a lifelong desire to visit her beautiful country that, after waiting through years of civil war there, I was finally able to fulfill with a bike tour last year. All my races have enriched my life in some way--some in ways that I envisioned and some in ways that I did not. Edited by Hot Runner 2016-07-13 10:44 PM |
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