Another day, another fight. It always feels like an uphill climb. Another step, another mile. The story of your life. It's harder than you ever thought, and it costs you everything you've got when you're back against the wall, and you feel like giving up. This is only a mountain. You don't have to find your way around it. Tell it to move, it'll move. Tell it to fall, it'll fall. This is only a moment. You don't have to let your fear control it. Tell it to move, it'll move. Tell it to fall, it'll fall. You've gotta find a second wind. It's not as high as you think it is. Don't give up and don't you quit. You gotta climb if you wanna win. And I know it looks big, and I know you feel small. But just a little bit of faith can change it all, change it all. This is only a mountain. You don't have to find your way around it. Tell it to move, it'll move. Tell it to fall, it'll fall. This is only a moment. You don't have to let your fear control it. Tell it to move, it'll move. Tell it to fall, it'll fall. Ask like you believe it. Trust like you can see it. Take your fear and say, there's nothing in your way, no. Even when it looks big, even when you feel small - just a little bit of faith can change it all. This is only a mountain. You don't have to find your way around it. Tell it to move, it'll move. Tell it to fall, it'll fall. This is only a moment. You don't have to let your fear control it. Tell it to move, it'll move. Tell it to fall, it'll fall. It's only a mountain. Just a little bit of faith can change it all. (Jason Castro)
There is this hill outside our house. I say "hill" very loosely, because for me, when I'm attempting to go up it, walking even, it feels like a MOUNTAIN! It is long and steep, and IT HURTS. Sometimes it takes everything I have to put one foot in front of the other just to get up it. But I know I have to because my house is on this hill, and there’s no way around it. The mountain must fall before I do… I've tried running it - and so far, NOPE. I've ridden my bike up it, but that was a couple years ago when I was in much better shape than I am now. lol This hill is my mountain, and before I compete in my first Ironman, I will conquer that mountain! It will move. It will fall. It’s only a mountain…
Wait a minute?! Ironman? Did she just say Ironman? As in swim (2.4 miles), bike (112 miles), run (26.2 miles)? 140.6 miles?? THAT Ironman? Oh yes! It’s on. It's become very personal, this hill, and my desire to conquer it. Because I know that when I can run up, yes I did say RUN UP, this hill/mountain 20 times, that I will be ready to complete an Ironman. (For those of you who don't know, my dream, my goal, my heart's desire is to complete an Ironman before my 40th birthday. I turn 39 in April 2013, so I better get moving on this mountain.)
Step back in time 4 years ago, and I had never even thought about doing a triathlon, much less an Ironman. I was happy going about my business and doing my thing. Just going through the motions of life and not really knowing what I was missing. Then life changed. And then I changed. And then, my goals changed. And one fateful day I heard about this thing called a “Sprint Triathlon” and I thought to myself, “I can do that!” Mind you, I hadn’t been physically active in a real sense since high school (at that time, 16 years ago). Sure I had played on the church softball team a couple years, but that didn’t require training like training for a triathlon. A triathlon? Who was I kidding? I was overweight, inactive, and hadn’t swum or ran since high school! And what about a bike? My bike was a mountain bike from Wal-Mart that I hadn’t ridden since I got it.
Well, none of those things stopped me. None of those potential “mountains” stopped me. They only made me more determined to sign up and participate in a triathlon – because I could and because I wanted to. I had something to prove – to myself. While I was training, a friend of mine asked me if I knew about the Sprint at Moraine State Park and suggested that it might be a good “warm-up” for the Sprint I had signed up to do in Pittsburgh. Sure, why not, I thought. It fit into my schedule and it was affordable.
My first Sprint turned out to be a rude awakening and more of a mountain than I expected. It also began my triathlon journey and I will forever be grateful that I did it. The swim was an easy 300 yards. What I wasn’t expecting was the mosh pit in the water! lol All those bodies and arms & legs thrashing everywhere! YIKES!!! Then the bike. Oh the bike... I thought that the 7 miles would be easy, and perhaps on the paved trails I had been training on. I couldn’t have been more wrong! It was 7 miles of nothing but hills – steep hills (mountains)… Brutal hills that took everything I had to stay on my (Wal-Mart mountain) bike and not get off and walk (which I did, even though I didn't want to and tried with everything I had in me not to). I finished the bike and somehow found my legs (and the strength) to tackle the 3.2 miles to finish my first Sprint, and I wasn’t even last! I was hooked. Exhausted, and hooked. My life had changed again. I had just moved a mountain. A big one.
Fast forward 4 years and I have moved several more mountains. I have completed 6 Sprint triathlons and an Olympic triathlon. And now I’m ready to begin training for my Ironman - my biggest (physical) mountain yet. I still ride the same bike from Wal-Mart that I used 4 years ago. I don’t know how to use energy drinks/gels/packs, but I will. I don’t have bike shoes or special grips on my pedals, and I won’t. I wear a Speedo swimsuit, cheap Saucony sneakers, and I still ride my mountain bike. The only difference is now I have road tires instead of mountain bike tires.
Oh yeah, and I have something much bigger and better than anything else – I have faith and desire, and I have family and friends that support me. A husband that tells me I CAN and not only encourages me, but is also my coach and personal trainer. He pushes me harder than anyone else, and when I have reached my limit, he pushes me some more. He knows that I work harder when I’m angry, and that’s usually when I’m chasing after him on the bike. lol
This Ironman of mine is only a mountain. It will move. It will fall. It will be harder than I ever thought, but it’s still only a mountain. And mountains are meant to be conquered… TRI ME.
