There are people in this world with an amazing ability to patiently allow things to develop. They start something in motion, then sit and watch as it changes into something bigger, better, or more impressive over time. Often, that time is years, if not decades. Then there are people like me.
Not that I'm impatient as a rule. Come hang out with me at 3 a.m. sometime and you'll get to see patience in action as I give up sleep because of a child that has some "urgent" need of daddy. But when it comes to plans and personal goals, I'm more of a "right now" kind of person.
That was a key factor behind the path I took to Ironman. Race a sprint against my better judgment. Complete an Olympic distance to prove the first wasn't a fluke. Run a second sprint the week after the Olympic race. Then sign up for Ironman. Why take years to do what can be compressed into 18 months?
Luckily, I'm able to suppress that instinct when looking at improving times. It took nearly seven years to get from that first 5:30 marathon to the four hour mark. And both options for qualifying for Boston involve a lot more time. Continue to train and shave another 35 minutes of my marathon time. Or wait until I age up enough for the qualifying time to be more attainable. They let 75 year olds run Boston, right?
This instinct is something I strive to keep in check. As I work to develop a youth tri team, my "now" side wants to see 20 or 30 kids signing up and completing the program. Each time I schedule a meeting, I want more and more people to attend. Thirty this year, 50 next year. Of course, at that rate of increase, the entire Fox Valley will soon run out of kids who haven't completed a triathlon.
Unreasonable as that sounds, I struggle with the notion that most tri clubs start with a few people, take years to attract more than a couple hundred, and much longer than that to reach a point where more than a few dozen members participate in a given event. Somehow, "average" and "normal" aren't enough for myself. That's another struggle. Accepting that the leaders can only do so much motivating. At some point, the kids have to find the desire inside themselves.
At our first meeting, last night, I had one youth and two parents. One of the parents was there as his daughter was unable to attend. Two of the guys from last year already said they will return, and the younger brother of one of them is also participating. That makes five.
PUt into the proper perspective, one more participant will double the size of the club. It also represents four youth who will train for and race their first triathlon. And whether one, ten, or twenty, we'll be there for the team. I'll overcome any sense of frustration at my own perception that the club is growing "too slowly."
In fact, as I wrote the last paragraph, I thought about gremlins. Perhaps this is just a gremlin I've never faced, before. I've faced and overcome many gremlins in the journey from sloth to marathoner to triathlete to Ironman. They've always been focused on athletic performance. Open water swims, injuries, pace concerns, etc. Perhaps this one is just trying to derail the effort to share the love of triathlon with others.
Bring it on, gremlins! You always provide motivation for improvement. And you always lose.
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