Lest We Forget

As triathletes we aim to race... not just one race but as many as we can physically and financially afford. I've met people who will set a goal to do "a" race but generally that race becomes the beginning of what we like to call in triathlon, a "life-style." When people in triathlon stop racing the reasons vary; injury, career change, change to a new sport... but I've not met anyone who said, "'I just don't like it anymore." I'm sure there are a few out there but I've never trained with them.

As races come and go we enjoy the memory of the last race gone - by hanging up the medal and piling the teeshirt with the others and anticipate the next one coming up on the calendar by specific training and preparation for just that day. It is the habit, the pattern of a triathlete. Each race leads to the next. I can honestly say I don't have a race or date in mind that I know will be my last. I just assume I'll be racing until, well, I don't even think about "until" and I probably wont until something happens. As triathletes we rarely look back and we never really consider the future, we just take life one race at a time. It is the habit... triathetes are addicts and they can't shake the habit. Recovering alcoholics recite the axiom "One day at a time." They have broken the habit in hopes of a healthier life. I don't know any recovering triathletes perhaps they too exist, but I've never trained with them either. But let me be clear; the race habit isn't healthy for our overall outlook on life.

"What!!!" I can hear it now. All you triathlete types want to argue the point. "NOT healthy?" Well... Get over it.

We learn the most by understanding our past. We gain wisdom by studying our experiences which are forged through the furnace of loss and defeat, pain and suffering and we apply our findings to our future goals and aspirations. Unfortunately, most of us are unwilling students.

In racing like life we live in the moment. We can only feel what we feel in the moment. Past pain and glory is only remembered through the filter of the present and the future can only be imagined. Therefore, we live in the moment and call on the past only when it is convenient.

But... lest we forget.

I was convicted yesterday when I got mostly through my day and had forgotten to pray for Jamie. Yesterday she was to have her second drain tube pulled from her body and to have the remainder of her stitches removed from her latest surgery. My excuse was I had just got caught up in the moment and forgot. Each day we move on... next day, next race. While Jamie continues to lie on her side staring at the same vista she's been forced to memorize we move freely and explore new sights without even noticing.

Lindsey's memorial service was last Friday. Hundreds of people gathered and remembered... then they went home.  Her father calls her cell phone just to hear the message... we will eventually erase her number from our phone; not to be cruel but because it's practical.

We move on... lest we forget.

We triathletes see our racing as a personal battle; mostly against self and occasionally against the competition. We endeavor to triumph, we rejoice in the success... yet will we learn from the experience, no matter how good or bad? Will we come to realize that we were not the only person in the race!

Far-called, our navies melt away;

On dune and headland sinks the fire:

Lo, all our pomp of yesterday

Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!

Judge of the Nations, spare us yet.

Lest we forget—lest we forget!

Comments

[angela hart]

Dan,

What a lovely blog! And it's so true... I, feeling for the most part like an athletic poser, am training to do my 2nd Olympic tri and have 5 sprint tri's under my belt, along with a few 1/2 marathons and a smattering of 5 and 10k's. My running cohort and I have even placed in a few 5k's, coming in around a 7.30 minute mile paces, getting 2nd and 3rd places (granted, these are usually some church fundraiser sort of race). And I don't know where it started, because I never thought (still don't) that, TA DA, I WILL NOW BE AN ATHLETE. I'm a creative, cerebral, reading, writing, deep-thoughts kind of girl that likes to laugh and drink cocktails with umbrella's in them. But I drank the tri-sport Kool-aid about three years ago and like you (maybe the mini-action figure version) can't imagine myself estimating any of my races as "the last one." Or how you put it, it moves from a goal to a lifestyle. And somehow, it all fits. Thanks for the reflective post.