My college swim coach posted this on facebook "I think that, before you criticize people, you should walk a mile in their shoes. This way when you criticize them, they will be a mile away and you have their shoes!" I laughed out loud. This bit of off the cuff humor reminded me instantly of swimming. I can still see him standing over my lane yelling some crazy directions. I can feel the water. the humidity, the temperature, smell the chlorine and see his quirky smile. In other words I can almost hear him saying what he posted. I never understood how much influence a coach could have on a person years later until I started coaching myself. I think about where I was when he coached me. I was this kid without ANY real focus and like any kid I wanted to be at the top but I was not really willing to put in the work. I see this all the time now. HMMM how to inspire them to want to work? I guess I just hope that they come around but have I done this myself? (to a point yes) Tommy taught me how to get joy from working out and that is forever seared into my being.
As I sit there and marvel at where my last few years have taken me. Its would seem that I haven't yet found that balance between focus and reality and maybe that is my life's quest. I went from being in great shape as few as 6 years ago to being in horrible shape now. I thought that this year I would get back into that world and that my motivation would be riding from Seattle to Lubec. Work got in the way, Korea came calling and life spun way off center. I overworked myself so much that I find that I am almost repulsed by the thought of getting on that beautiful thing with 2 wheels and yet it is so much better than the thing parked in the driveway with 4 wheels. When I first suggested I was going to do this trip, Tommy made sure to tell me that he thought it was the adventure of a lifetime. I trained hard until February and worked out a good deal of the logistics then the little things made me loose some of my focus and I quickly unraveled. Despite accomplishing so much in the past 10 years, I feel like that 19 year old kid again, tons of ambition but lacking the drive. So I wonder how many people are running a mile ahead in my shoes right now? Am I running after them, or am I dancing free in bare feet?
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