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Why We Race....

Friday, 28 October 2011 03:00

(Famous Photo - Two guys racing.)

By Mark Allen (for Xtri.com)

Have you ever asked yourself why you race, especially a triathlon as grueling as an Ironman? I have, partly so I can remind myself of my own motivations and partly so that I have an answer ready when people ask me. "I love being in great shape" sounds like an overdose of overkill to someone who confides in you that their fitness is limited to walking Fido when their kids have too much homework to take him out. "I race to test myself" does little to connect the incredible feeling you get completing an Ironman with an inquisitive out of shape coach potato sitting in the seat next to you on the plane.

So why do we race? What is so fun about keeping going when your body is screaming for you to stop? What's so fulfilling about ending up with blisters and walking funny for a few days? What is it about crossing a finish line that has us replaying that moment and all the day's unfoldings over and over in our... mind's eye and to our friends? It might be as simple as that it feels fantastic to be that fit. It definitely has to do with being involved with a great community of people. Here are some additional reasons and theories. Read on and see if any of them are your reasons for racing as well.

Initial Inspiration-The Basic Reason We Race

We all have some kind of moment where it all crystalized, where you made the decision to do a triathlon. For me it was watching the Ironman on television back in 1982. It was the impossible-ness of the task that intrigued me. I love a physical puzzle that clearly has a solution, yet seems to lie way outside my realm of experience. It's the kind of thing that is energizing to see, and if it calls to you, it's even more so to experience.

I had a similar feeling when I watched the distance swimmers in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. To me, someone who could not even make it once across the length of a 25-yard pool, their feats seemed impossible yet they were doing it. It called to me, and a few months later I joined a local swim team and started what would become a 12-year stint as a swimmer. Watching the 1982 Ironman had all the same trimmings-another sport way outside my realm of experience with the impossible physical puzzle that clearly had a solution. And I was called once again, and a few shorts months after that I was training for what would become the first of twelve Ironman races in Hawaii. What was your initial inspiration? READ MORE