One Opporunity

I’m a serious endurance athlete. On a given day, I’ll swim, bike or run for 2 or 3 hours. I love it, but without question, the training can get monotonous…. There’s only so much you can see from the saddle of a bike before you’ve seen it all. So I carry music. My ipod is as much a part of my training program as are my swimming goggles or my running shoes. I listen to Tom Petty, to Jay-Z, even Kenny Chesney and Miles Davis. I listen to The Eye of the Tiger, and Welcome to the Jungle. But there’s no song – either for entertainment or for motivation, better than Eminem’s Lose Yourself.

Really, it’s awesome. “If you had…. one shot… one opportunity/To seize everything you ever wanted/One moment…. Would you capture it?” Lose Yourself is about having a single opportunity – an opportunity you desperately want. It’s about putting in endless hours of work to prepare, and of course, it’s about executing. For me, it’s about triathlon, and it’s about getting what I want in the sport. No matter if I’m dragging on the bike, or having a terrible day in the pool, hearing that song is all I need. All I need to finish the workout, and more often than not, to do a little extra.

And while for now, the song is just that – motivation to get out the door, and to get after it, I can already see it becoming more. I can already see it becoming a music memory. You see, I won’t be doing this all my life. Triathlon is extremely important to me now, but it won’t be later. It won’t be when I have kids, when I retire, and when I grow old. It’s an activity that accompanies a distinct phase in my life, but it’s one that’s destined to end. No doubt, even when I’ve moved on, I’ll look back at this phase, and I’ll look back at triathlon. I’ll see the bikes, I’ll see the chlorine-dried skin, and I’ll see the achieved goals… but just as much, I’ll hear the music associated with the time. I’ll hear Lose Yourself.

And when I do, no matter how out of shape I am, I might just have to go for a run.