Well....the season has nearly come to an end and will in the next 24hr regardless of the result. It has been nearly 2 full years since I have taken proper down time from training. It has been quite a journey since that summer in 2010 when I committed to my first IM after a hiatus of 3 years over a dinner conversation with Marilyn.
That race was IM Cozumel and man has there been some up times, but equally as many learning experiences since then. I would have to say that 2011 has been a year of personal best. I have nearly PB'ed in almost all distances across the board since starting triathlon back in 2000. For that reason alone, this year has been stellar thus far, but not without one more chance to give'r one more crack in 2011.
Tomorrow morning at 7AM, I will start my 4th Ironman in less than 12 months at Ironman Arizona. My brother, Jeff, left me with a poem before I left Boise and wrote it on my bottle. The poem is called Invictus
The poem is best understood with a little background of the English poet, William Ernest Henley. At the age of 12, Henley contracted tuberculosis of the bone. A few years later, the disease progressed to his foot, and physicians announced that the only way to save his life was to amputate his leg. After his initial amputation, he continued to have long periods in the hospital because his right foot was also diseased. Henley contested the diagnosis that a second amputation was the only way to save his life by becoming a patient of the pioneering surgeon Joseph Lister . After three years in hospital (1873–75), during which he wrote and published the poems collected as In Hospital, Henley was discharged. Lister's treatment had not effected a complete cure but enabled Henley to have a relatively active life for nearly 30 years. Stoicism inspired him to write this poem, Invictus.
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
Good luck to my fellow IM triathletes tomorrow, be the Captain of your soul!!!
Unconquered,
Crazy J
IM Race Coverage:
You can easily follow tomorrow by either following me on twitter (@QuadJRanch) or via a GPS device that I will be wearing during the bike and run.
You can follow me at My Athlete Live at the following link: http://track.myathletelive.com/vemap.aspx?name=373956
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