My friend Adam Lofquist recently asked me to write a guest post for his blog Fuel Fire Flame (which you can see by clicking the link) so I asked him if he would be interested in writing a post for Overcoming Graduation and he happily jumped on the opportunity! Check out his post below about his experiences training for and completing an Ironman triathlon.
ADAM LOFQUIST: I will always remember crossing the finish line of my first Ironman. It was like I was in the eye of a tornado, chaos all around me and yet I was calm. As I made my way down the finisher’s chute I could hear the names of other finishers being announced over the blare of the music. As I got closer I could see the flashes of cameras going off, high fives were offered by spectators and yet it is one of the calmest moments of my day. Time stood still, I was floating on air, my body on auto-pilot to the finish line. I cross the finish line, a wave of relief rushes over me, I finally accomplished what I set out to do, I became an Ironman.
The opportunities that present themselves in our lives are like an Ironman Race, when we first think about them, it hits us like a ton of bricks knocking the wind out of us. They seem impossible because we do not believe we are qualified to accomplish our goals. Then one day, we cross the proverbial finish line and we accomplish our goals. We would never know the joy of crossing the finish line if we never had the courage to get to the starting line and we would never be able to get to the starting line without all the work that led to getting there.
Here are some lessons I learned from training for an Ironman and how they relate to our life, growth, opportunities and successes.
You are going to fall and fail, learn from it. In my first half-ironman as I approached the bike to run transition, I tried to be cool and dismount while still having one foot clipped in. Imagine the toy car scene from Home Alone where Marv and Harry go flying across the room, but funnier and in front of people. I fell, I got back up and I learned from it. Growth has a funny way of showing up in your life. Most times it shows up in the form of failure. Failure is not a bad thing, failure is you pushing beyond your limits so that you can get closer to the person you deserve to be. Your opportunity for growth is going to be painful and leave you with scars but that is just part of the process.
To cross the finish of an Ironman requires hundreds of hours of work and thousands of miles of training. It would be easier to give up but it would not be worth it. When you quit, you are extinguishing your dreams instead of fueling them. Focus on the outcomes you want instead of just the work it will take.
At Ironman a majority of people only see you on race day. People do not notice all the hard work, blood, sweat and tears that went into getting you to that day. Success is the same way. People will start to notice when you get near the finish line after a lot of hard work. Think back to family gatherings growing up with people you rarely saw. I am sure they mentioned how much you had grown and yet you did not notice anything. Sure you had to get different size pants and shoes but overall it was nothing major to you but to them it was huge. The point is two-fold, success will take a lot of work and value every step that you take, no matter how small because momentum adds up.
The finish line of your current goals is just the starting line of even bigger goals. The finish line is not the ending, it is the beginning of figuring out what is next, how you can be better and how you can challenge yourself more. Take a moment or two to celebrate because it took a lot of work to get where you are but never stop growing, never stop pushing past your limits and never stop becoming the person you are meant to be.
Ironman may be an individual event but I have met some of the most amazing people because of it. They encourage you, help you and guide you. It is positive peer pressure. To be successful and to grow, surround yourself with people who will help you grow, not hide you from the sun.
At the start line, you have no guarantee that you will get to the finish line, no matter how well you trained. You could become sick, get in an accident, have a flat, get lost; the list goes on forever. Life is not fair for anyone. Things are going to happen to you that are out of your control, don’t let it stop you. Success requires you to show up every day and do your best no matter what happens. If you embrace this you will go further than you could ever imagine.
When I tell people that I have done an Ironman, the usual response is “Why would you ever want to do that?” My response is “Why not?” I may fail and I may not make it to the finish line but at least I tried. In your life you have two options. You can limit your beliefs, your abilities and your impact or you can have an unlimited mindset. I have come to the belief that I would much rather fail at trying to do something than to regret never doing it. We are only alive for a short time but within that time our potential is unlimited as long as we believe it is. This is my biggest take away from Ironman, the belief that, just like their motto says, “Anything is Possible.”
In case no one else has ever told you or even if you do not believe it yourself, I want to tell you that I know you can accomplish anything. The limits that you put on yourself are all lies. It is going to take work and it is going to hurt but at the end of the day it is worth it so start doing it.
Adam Lofquist
Adam is an Ironman and an active volunteer with myTEAM TRIUMPH, an organization that is very close to my heart. Check out his post below!
Creator of the blog Fuel Fire Flame
“Chase your Dream, Demolish your Fears, Conquer the “Impossible”
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” Howard Thurman