Inspiration from the unassuming

I think it is unavoidable that when we converse with the common man about our endurance pursuits, that these people's eye flutter into the backs of their heads and they swoon under the perceived effort it would take them to perform such tasks.

"Your riding 100 miles? That's as far as Tucson is from Phoenix. NYC to Philly. Seattle to Canada. San Francisco to Sacramento. THAT. WOULD. KILL. ME."

Or our funny but unfortunate response to new marathoners, "Oh. Your running your first marathon. I usually run those after swimming two and half miles and then biking 112. first." Watch the eyes flutter in front of you.

For those of us who have taken that step into the endurance world, either by doing or even watching, such distances only bring up one connotation, admiration and understanding. Which brings me to the crux of my post today.

I was fortunate to have lunch this week with someone I consider a friend but haven't seen much in the last two years. An Ironman to be sure but a runner at heart. An unassuming man with a time consuming construction job, a fantastic family and a passion for ultra distance events. And this motivates me like nothing else. A man who has finished 5ks to 100 milers. Run the Marathon des Sables. Finished Ironmans and all the rest. Decided to run the length of the great state of Arizona and made if from the California border to his home in Phoenix on a bad knee and instead of quitting got on his mountain bike and rode the rest of the way to New Mexico. In the summer.

We discussed our injuries. My long documented here and he lately has had some of his own as he sustains his running base year after year waiting to be invited to Badwater. His ultimate destination in endurance.

My long run this weekend is 8 miles. He's going to run 25. It's a low mileage training run this week for him. Okay my eyes flutter a bit at that. He is doing a 100 mile race that starts after sunset Halloween night. A couple weeks ago the race director did a 30 mile training run on the course from 6pm to 6am for free. Are your eyes fluttering yet?

My point is that no matter how hard you train or how great the distance is, there is someone out there, who is not superhuman and not sponsored, doing that for a warm up. Isn't that great? It is. I love it. It means that there is hope for the rest of us. It makes us shiver and anticipate and dream.

Dream.

Dream. Of the possibilities.

Whether it's in weight loss, or fitness, or business, or even faith, its important to surround yourself with people that are doing what you want to do. People that are living the life you want to live. It's a process. It's hard as hell. But I am so fricking happy I have the friends that I do. The endurance community is a one hell of a family. Unlike any a person can ever have.

Thanks Steve.

There's treasure anywhere. Even in a lunch.