A guidebook for navigating the trails of life

This past August, I ran, fell, and tripped my way through the Mid Mountain 50k. I mean that very much literally. We started the run up at Silver Lake which is midway up Deer Valley, only to run back down to Snow Park, headlamps on, and then back up to Silver Lake (mile 5) where the next 26 miles miles would begin. When I got back up to where I started (eye roll here) I felt great! I survived the dark downhill which is what I was most scared of for the day.

It is insane to think that in May I hit the 15 year anniversary of my accident. The 5,475th Bonus Day.

Wild that the last decade and a half are ones I very easily could have not been here for. The friendships I wouldn’t have made, memories not created, laughs – and tears – I wouldn’t have shared. But, my story wasn’t done yet.

My brother-in-law, Jim, once worked for a guy who had a picture of a Porsche on his desk. Jim was perplexed because he knew that this guy indeed did not drive a Porsche. When he asked him about the pic, it was all clear. He knew what he wanted and this was what he was working towards. Of course he had a picture of a Porsche on his desk, duh!

I have never, and I mean never, been good at any sport that requires any amount of coordination. I mean, I’m not especially good at sports that require no coordination either, but I do have perserverence on my side. Listen up folks, that can get you far! But in sports that require coordination, it will get you less far.

At long last, it is time to put pen to paper again. It has been a moment since I shared my thoughts on the dance of life. That analogy is a pretty good one, since just like life, me dancing has its fair share of awkwardness. But c’mon! It also has its fair share of moments where I look straight up COOL. Give me a little credit here!

Failure: Noun: A lack of success; An unsuccessful person, enterprise, or thing.

Ok, so the definition gives us a sense of what failure is not. Failure is not success. But I recently told a dear friend that I ‘fail’ more times than not in life. Said with a smile on my face, coated by laughter, and not a tinge of regret in my voice or heart. He asked me what I think is an essential way to look at failure: are these failures positive or negative?’ I think this is a better way to investigate the definition, connotations, mishaps, and victories of what failure really is. 

February is off to a start, and with it, 1 month of funemployment comes to an end. Well, one month minus that one week where I did work...and with it cry every singly day. But I digress. Yes, I am launching into month 2 of funemployment and like all things in life, the lessons have begun to settle in and become more clear to me as they always do in time.

What goes through one’s mind as he/she plunges into the waters of an Ironman triathlon? A first Ironman triathlon. For me, as the cannon went off and I herded towards that fate of plunging into the chilly waters of Lake Coeur d’Alene for what I knew would be an endless day, my mind was overtaken by one and only one thought.