Prodigal Athlete

This morning at 6am, I couldn't help but notice that daylight in all of its glory is on the way back to us.

It's triggering a lot of feelings, strangely.
Sunlight. Summer. Long days and warmer nights.
Big training volume, and perhaps the most peculiar, the two big fall races.

I have spent only 14 days in Monterrey, and less than a week total in Lake Anna, Virginia... yet, they have a very strong home-like pull to me.
Why?

Is it because of the 'round-the-clock racing, and the fact that, by the end of the event, you know every crack and bump in the road?
Is it because, by the end of the weekend, those strangers in the tent next to you are now your friends, who you look forward to seeing the next year, as soon as you leave the course?
Or is it the immense high of a hard-fought finish? On paper, it's the individual highlighted as the finisher, but really, your friends have stayed up all night, stressing about whether to put one scoop of powder or two into your bottle, and at what hour you should sleep. Indeed, their struggle may be more than yours.

I cannot deny that I look forward to these races in a way that is much more than an athlete testing his fitness. They are spiritual journeys to the center of your being. Finding out what you are made of is never an ego building event. In a world where everything comes easily , it is refreshing to have to fight.

Alas, there are over 8 months until the Triple Iron, and 9 until the Deca Iron.
There will be many fights over the course of those months. There will be injuries. There will be long nights spent without sleep. There will be financial struggles.
The path to the Deca will be long and hard...such is life.

I will battle, with help from my army, The Party Brigade.
And when we get to Lake Anna and Monterrey, the event will be a glorious conclusion of what was 2011.
Maybe that's why these events feel like coming home.

krp