Back In the (Bike) Saddle Again
The price of my Intuition is…a lot of gear.
April 11, 2021
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This week, I chose to make my next three months a lot more difficult, and also a lot better in the process.
I blame myself.
Or, my Intuition, to be more specific. Which means it’s the right choice, even if I will definitely be cursing at myself daily until the end of July.
It’s not about my job, or my book, or this blog, or my life - yet, at the same time, it affects all of them positively. Such a paradox.
I’m getting back on course - on the triathlon course, that is.
I am returning to triathlon to take a Next Step, one I almost took ten years ago, but didn’t. Now, on the other side of a seismic decade of change for me, it’s time.
I just knew it. Deep down. It wasn’t even a debate. It was more like a light going on that just reveals what’s in the room. And once I see, pretending it isn’t there doesn’t make any sense.
So at the end of July, down in Salem, OR, I will be doing my first Half-Ironman triathlon - a 1.2-mile river swim, a 56-mile bike ride, and a 13.1- mile half-marathon. The shorthand is to call it a “70.3.”
Yes, I am CHOOSING to do that - and it’s an easy choice because it’s the Next Indicated Step.
The why takes some explaining, but falls under the umbrella of “it’s just what I need to do.”
Ten years ago, in the midst of my own Truth and Consequences, a friend challenged me to train and do an Olympic-distance triathlon (just under a mile swim, 25-mile bike ride, and a 10k / 6.2 mile run). I’ve documented that story here before, but the postscript of that came two weeks after that first triathlon, when I did an “Aquabike” race (the first two legs of a half-ironman) in Sonoma, CA.
It’s also the race that earned me the seemingly-permanent nickname, in one particular racing circle, of “Goat Butt.”
But, (ha!) that’s another story for another day.
I had a blast on that race day in Sonoma, swimming the Russian River before taking on the 56-mile course through wine country, my eyes on the beauty around me as well as on the road. When I crossed the finish line (the rest of my circle were doing half- or full-Ironman races), I was on my own. I remember watching those continuing on the run leg of the half-ironman event, assessing my own body fatigue, and saying “I could totally run that half-marathon right now.” I knew, in that moment, I could do a half-ironman, but as I hadn’t signed up for that race, I had to sit and wait for my group to finish their races.
Oh well. “Next time,” I said to myself.
That Next Time didn’t happen. Until this week, nearly ten years later.
Longtime readers and listeners know what happened during that decade. Nowadays, I just look at it as A Lot of Life Happened, because everything I have and am now is far better than it was back then. I’m blessed, I’m loved, and I’m free. It doesn’t get any better than that.
But this past week or so, as I worked through my daily meditations and reflections, had some revealing and profound conversations with some close friends, and took a look at areas in myself I wanted to improve, my Intuition drew on all of them to show me it was finally time to Totally Do That Half-Ironman.
I looked into the possibility, and found a brand new race taking place in Salem, just a few hours drive from me (and with friends to crash with nearby!). I laughed out loud at the confirmation my Intuition was right, and even harder when I saw the course is considered “beginner friendly.” Translation - river swim and blessedly FLAT ride and run courses).
It couldn’t get any better for a 47-year old’s reentry into the Triathlon Scene.
You might be wondering - how did I know it was my Intuition and not my Ego?
That’s a great question, one I have discussed with friends and experts for several years now (and, will be talking about it with an Intuition expert on tomorrow’s edition of my radio show / podcast, This Show Is All About You.”
As one expert described it to me, we can tell it’s our Ego when we have an internal debate in our mind about a certain decision - we make up catastrophic stories and alternatives, pros and cons, how other people will respond or think, etc. It’s an internal debate that includes things completely outside our control.
Intuition meanwhile, arrives as Knowing, on a deep emotional and spiritual level alongside the intellectual. It often emerges unbidden in the moment and, upon reflection, has been building for some time before it lands in front of us. And there isn’t any debate to be had on whether or not it is true.
That’s what this was for me. A Knowing. Like knowing the sun will come up tomorrow. I’ve been listening and acting on my Intuition more over the past year-plus than ever before, and it is improving every part of my life. So much so, in fact, that many of my friends and family have noticed and keep asking me “what’s happened with you, and how?”
I just started acting on what I was hearing from my Intuition, after getting present enough to listen for it in the first place.
As I’ve considered where I want to go this next year, my primary concern has been establishing better self-care - in sleep, diet, and exercise. None of these have been bad; they just could be better, and have been before. And with our collective yet slow emergence from COVID restrictions and the arrival of spring, healthy opportunities are increasing.
Plus, I’m not getting any younger. Whatever bad habits I allow to continue at this point will just get harder and harder to break.
I never felt better physically than I did ten years ago, but I was an emotional and spiritual disaster. That mess has been cleaned up. So, I asked myself, what if I could bring back that physical peak and blend it with all my other areas of growth and change over the past decade?
What if?
Then my Intuition dropped in and said, “You know how to make that happen. So do it.”
The picture couldn’t have been clearer in 4K.
Intuition says Yes to things, Ego debates all the reasons why we could say No or Not Yet. Then makes up a million stories around it.
I said Yes (or, more accurately, admitted it), then each step fell into place in literally hours. I found the Oregon 70.3 and registered. I looked into rejoining my athletic club (it had closed for COVID), and found it had opened and its reentry memberships were crazy reasonable. I searched for payment plans to see if I could make all this happen, and - of course - found them. I upgraded some basic equipment needs for similarly crazy low prices, and even got a free consultation lined up from an Ironman racing expert on how to best train in light of a core-area surgery I had a couple of years ago. And then, to top it off, I found a local triathlon training club / group to join - for free.
I couldn’t have scripted it any better and have it be believable.
Finally, I knew I’d need accountability and support. What better way to do that than go public with it here and keep you posted on my training and progress? It’ll keep me getting up early to train (I hate getting up early, - HATE It. But I’ll do it.), and give me more outlets for me to connect more with all of you.
[Editor’s Note: As further proof that what he says here is true, literally in this moment, someone gifted JDK with ANOTHER 70.3 race in October. Cue the avalanche of Goodness. You can’t make this shit up.]
This is what happens when I / you / we listen to Intuition - it confirms itself as things start happening. It’s something that feels completely natural as it unfolds, too. It’s trippy but fun.
Therefore, the price of NOT listening to Intuition? Cool things don’t happen.
To not listen to - and act upon - our Intuition is to gaslight ourselves.
Chew on that for a minute.
We don’t want others to do that to us, for good reason - yet we can easily do it to ourselves and rationalize it away.
That’s not a script worth acting on.
With that in mind, maybe some of you want to join me in this whole Intuition-in-Action thing? It doesn’t have to be a half-Ironman or a full one (and yeah, a full is one of my longer term goals. I want that Not-Tony-Stark Ironman moniker). It could be a short Sprint distance triathlon (.5 mile swim, 12.4 mile ride, and a 5k / 3.2 mile run), or you could pull some friends together and sign up for a relay race (each of you do one specific leg).
Participating is fun and finishing even more rewarding, provided training is regular and effective. That’s where the real Life Work and Results come from, actually. It’s that whole “the point of the Journey is not to arrive” thing made reality. I’m excited to get started in my three month training regimen (okay, I’ve already kinda started), and I’m also taking deep breaths daily in preparation for pushing myself up the Training Mountain again. It’s intimidating sometimes and is always tiring, yet somehow it also rejuvenates and balances every area of life. I always want more of that.
I’m getting all Zen Again, and I love being in that space.
(Holy moly - I just saw my Editor’s Note above. Now I’ll be cursing at myself daily until the end of October. I need professional sponsorship. Know anyone, anyone?)
Consider this an invitation to join me somehow, even if it is just by following my progress. See what your Intuition says. And if a triathlon sounds worse than a day-long root canal, consider what would be YOUR “triathlon” challenge? What’s your Intuition telling you is Yes for you? What is your Ego trying to talk you out of? What bullshit stories is it telling you?
We battle Ego and Demons everyday, and that is its own triathlon-style challenge without the intention or the self-improvement.
Intuition helps us change the battlefield by eliminating that Ego / Demon battle altogether.
And a clear battlefield means more space for training, racing, and finishing.
You know what Yes is, I bet. If you don’t, just listen for Intuition and it’ll arrive.
And when it tells you to go Do Your Race, whatever that is, I’ll be there on Race Day to cheer you on.
Chins Up, Everyone. So says Goat Butt.
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Thanks for reading My Sunday Post. Here are some important updates from my past week:
Soul Book of the Week: The Dark Between Stars (Poetry) by Atticus
Book On My Nightstand: Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery in the United States, 1861 - 1865 by James Oakes
Best Show / Movie I Watched: Joe Musgrove throwing the first no-hitter in San Diego Padres history
Strongest Earworm Song: “Baker’s Globe Mallow” by Brett Dennen
Best Triathlon Training Moment: Rejoining my reopened training club - first time inside it in a year
Favorite Hangout T-Shirt of the Week: This one. Because I feel a binge of their music approaching
Coolest Thing of the Week: Hanging out with my nephew while he looks at aviation schools
Thing I Know Now That I Didn’t Last Week: That dogs can be afraid of Darth Vader
Most Helpful Perspective / Advice of the Week: “Keep breathing - it all starts there.”
Current Wanderlust List: 1) Poolside, 80 degrees; 2) Beach, then Bonfire; 3) Driving Highway 1, CA
