January 24, 2007

Triathlon

It slithers snakelike into your soul at the first hint of invitation. It captures you when you are weak, as you watch the others cry and sweat and bleed and risk injury and sometimes death.

You don't know what immediately, but you know something is happening. You begin to look around, see how others do it, and you ask your body if you too can do it.

And then you start...

You talk to the warriors... You read about the elite troops... You wonder if someday you can be like them.

And you realize that it changes you. It takes control of you. It empowers and humbles you. It strengthens you. It sharpens and tempers you.

It forces you to neglect the less important, and sometimes the most important. It commands you to reexamine your life priorities, again and again and again.

And then one day, one day you awake and you realize, I am not it, but it is me.

And you live with it. And you thrive with it.

And it slithers snakelike into the soul of all with whom you share it.

5 comments:

TJ said...

amen brother!

Laurie said...

I can feel the pull.

Triteacher said...

"I am not it, but it is me." You said a mouthful there. Very nice post.

Unknown said...

nice post

SingletrackJenny (formerly known as IronJenny) said...

Oh, it's not "snake-like"! More like John Belushi-like --- and you want to party with it!