The Pursuit of a Goal!

This past weekend my wife Jenn (seen pictured here) and I competed in the Tri in the Buff triathlon and duathlon at Evangola state park.  The duathlon, which I competed in, is a 3 part race involving a 5K run, a 40K bike ride, and then a 5K run again.  Not being a big swimmer, I left the triathlon to my wife.  She competed in the sprint distance triathlon which entails a 750 meter swim (1/2 mile), 20K bike ride, and finishes with a 5K run.  I am pleased to say that we each finished the race, and did as well as we hoped for time.  Jenn finished 62nd out of 178 competitors at 1 hour 27 minutes, and I finished 8th out of 22 at 2 hours 14 minutes.  This was the first time either of us have competed in a duathlon or triathlon and it was a learning experience.  We have both done long distance running for many years, but the transition from running, to biking, and to swimming in Jenn’s case was an adjustment.

This whole experience has made reminded me of two important things we all should keep in mind as we go through life.  One, that goal setting is an important thing to keep us on track.  I believe it is important to be continuously setting new goals for ourselves to keep us better directed.  It is very easy to get off track in life.  This reminds me of a favorite traditional proverb of mine that says, “The road to success is lined with many tempting parking spaces.”  Secondly, it is important we are always pursuing new things.  This will help keep life a bit more interesting.  That doesn’t mean you need to do a triathlon (although that would be great), but what it does mean is that you should step outside of your comfort zone and do something that you never thought about doing before.  Sometimes this may take some hard work, and even a little courage, but the feeling of accomplishment you will get when you have met your goal is like nothing else.  Get out and enjoy all that life has to offer.