Are you there to finish, or are you there to win? (Page 3)

I don't race to win or loose. I race to conquer fear and to stand on the precipice before the race and to give it my all. I race because every moment during the race I have to battle that part of me that wants to quit. That's why I race.

I try not to pay too much attention to the place I get... but frankly, if I don't win my AG (Excepting a semi-sponsored person showing up in my AG), I feel like I failed in my training, even if I didn't in my racing.  I guess I'm not a beginner any more, though. 

I'm there to beat my PR.

I am attempting my first oly distance this summer so for my first race, I'll be there to finish.

Are you asking what I'm doing, or my thoughts on what you are?

If it's what I think about your plans, then it sounds awesome. What ever brings you happiness and a sense of fulfillment.

If you're asking if I am there "to finish or to win," I suppose the answer is neither/somewhere in between.

Finishing isn't a big deal to me. It's not a challenge. But I am also probably not going to win (unless it's a small race :p). I'm there to go as hard as I can given whatever training I have under my belt (<--which varies wildly). Where ever that puts me in the standings, that's where it puts me.

If I were just there "to win," well that's so unlikely there wouldn't be much point in signing up.

I'm out there to compete. I'm racing against the other entrants in my age group, category, whatever. I want to see how I stand against them. I want to keep getting better.

If I do come in last, well I did finish and I "lapped everyone on the couch." 

Because I do keep entering things and do keep trying to get better, maybe someday I will win.

Craig Alexander interview, post IM Melbourne

"Had I come in second and Brownie'd got on top of me, and I'd  fought to the death, that's still a success in my eyes."

This interview sums up what it's about, do your best, never give up, and that's the definition of a win.

^^^this

Pretty much this.  Will it ever happen?  Most likely not but I am definitely playing to win, no matter if it's triathlon, running, checkers, chicken dancing etc.

I'm not going to win.  I want too, but it isn't happening.  I'm not going to be MOP... not for a while.

For the first year I decided to focus on longer... more than faster.  It was a way to keep the accomplishments visible.

I did a bunch of sprints, then a few Oly's and now a HIM. 

I'm not going to hit a full anytime soon.... but a HIM is long enough that I can shave time off in chunks large enough to feel like it is an accomplishment. 

My goal is to do another one in November and shave an hour off.  I have about 5 Oly/sprints between now and then I will continute to try to improve on as well.

Great topic!

With my family as my first priority I race and train to stay in shape and have fun.  There seems to be some very competitive racers in my age group so I dont think winning will be an option for a while.

My first goal is always to finish, of course. If you don't finish, then it's hard to talk about meeting any other kind of race goals! And a race I didn't finish would be one in which something had gone disastrously wrong!  When I started training again, after running at a high level years ago and winning quite a bit, I just assumed from now on I'd be racing to finish, or maybe place in my AG depending on who showed up. I just aimed to do my best effort each time. To my suprise, as time went on, on occasion, that resulted in me placing or even winning, AG or overall. The first time I placed in my AG, I didn't believe it--I thought they were calling me because I'd won some kind of drawing! And the first time I won overall, I just kept saying, "How's that possible?" LOL

I can't really say I'm racing to win--I'm just trying to do my best, and if anyone's in front of me when I'm doing my best on the run, I'm going to try to pass them. If there are still people in front of me when I reach the finish line, so be it. Unless you're so fit you just crush all your competition (in that case, you're mainly racing yourself/the clock), whether you win/place overall or age group largely depends on who shows up on a given day and what condition they're in. I can guess that in some highly competitive races in the US, I'd be hard pressed to crack the top 10 in my AG; at 42, I've won women's overall in two smaller regional races here. The races I'm proudest of are not necessarily races that I won; generally they were really hard efforts against very strong competition.

Finish.  I completed the Ironman 70.3 Galveston on April 1, 2012 and not only was it the best time I've had in a long while, I'm so proud of myself.  I was close to last, but I was so happy when I met my goal of finishing the swim in under an hour and going for 8 hours total, that I would do it again in a heart beat. 

I'm not very competitive with others. I do like to challenge myself.

I am there so that I cannot sleep the night before because I am too restless/excited.  I am there to waste time at work thinking about tomorrow's training or my next race.  I am there to feel giddy and sing aloud to the radio as I drive to the race at 5 AM.  I am there to feel my mouth go dry and heart beat faster before the start.  I am there to try my hardest and validate all the time and training I put into getting ready for the race.  I am there to compete with myself and others and see how I do against whoever shows up.  I am there to laugh at myself afterward because I swam off course, screwed up a transition, or made some other error that I can later use to convince myself that I could have gone faster.  I am there to analyze my race performance to needless detail.  I am there to say I did it when so many people can't.

If that is "being there to win," then I am undefeated.

In order to finish first, one must first finish.

If my effort nets me an AG spot, fantastic.  If not, and I feel like I performed to the level I have trained, that's okay too.  Most often, for me, it depends on who else shows up.  I can get comfortable with the same AGers I race with locally, then a hot shoe shows up and burns us all.

In the end, I'm there to finish.  Haven't had a DNF in 7 years of racing (yet...knocks on wood).

Finishing isn't really an issue for me because I race short distances only that I know I can finish (super sprint, sprint, 12k trail races, cross country racing). That doesn't mean, however, that I'm not plagued by negative thoughts when the going gets rough in a race . So I'm thrilled when I cross the finish line - whatever my position.

My goals are to race to the best of my ability, come out of a race not hurting for days on end and to  beat as many people as possible.  However, I must admit that I secretly nourish the idea of a podium one day. A lot of our triathlons have a club division and non club division. Since most people race/train with a club, depending on the non club competition, I may one day have a chance.

I am competitive and I want to win - and it drives me. Having said that, I am competing as much with myself. this last event I won my AG by 10 seconds, with one reason the guy who would have likely won no showed. I beat the time I set for myself by almost 2 minutes which was my real goal. 

Two years ago I was over 300 pounds. Now I am just over 200 (actually was weighed in at my last group as I race as a master clyde), with a body fat measured at 14%. I want to be the absolute best when I show up at the start line and compete to win. But I know people out there are faster than me so its somewhat luck of the draw. So if I win, and I improve and give my best great - if I compete my best and do not podium - still a victory. Given where I was and where I am now, part of the victory is the effects of the "tri lifestyle" has given to me.

Ran a 5k in Oct, and was running with this guy - he beats me by ten seconds and finishes 3rd in his AG and I finish like 8th in mine; ran another 5k in March where I won my AG because it was not that fast or deep - I was not pleased with my time but I won.