Summer Round Up 12K

Yesterday I raced the Summer Round Up 12K in Bear Creek Park in Colorado Springs.  This was not my typical triathlon race or even a fast road race, but a very hard single track trail race with difficult hills and terrain.  After the race, I was not happy at all with my performance.  I placed 6^th and had pretty much fallen apart for miles 5-6.  Seeing other friends do so well while I was struggling was not easy to accept, and on top of the race, I have just been drained emotionally lately.  Later on in the day after spending some much needed time at home on Bailey Ranch, I realized I was being too hard on myself.

Just the other day I saw a video of a friend’s child who took their first step.  To me the baby stumbled to the ground and really didn’t walk at all, but I suppose from a parent’s standpoint this was a huge step, regardless of how small it may seem to outsiders.  This got me thinking about how hard I have been on myself.  Whatever happened to the days when we celebrated small victories?  In any great story, the final product of success is not achieved without many small steps.  Instead of beating myself up for losing in a trail race to some of the top runners in Colorado and also a few Africans, I should be celebrating that I won my age group and that I ran a competitive trail race while I have not been training for such a race at all.  Instead of looking for how I have come up short, I need to be looking for how I succeeded.  Is this not how God looks at us?  We fall short nonstop by our standards, but as long as we accept our failures and have goals and continue to better ourselves, God looks at us like a parent watching their child take their first step.  He celebrates our small steps because he knows what we are capable of.  If we would do the same with ourselves and the people around us, just think of how much better we would be.  Yesterday’s race may not have been graceful like a baby’s first steps, but I had the courage to race, the courage to try as a child does.  In life if there is something you want to accomplish, a place you want to be, or a person you want to be with, you must have the courage to try.  You might fall after one step, but you will be closer after that fall than you were before.  After several falls, you will eventually get the goal, to the place you want to be, or with the person you want to be with.  Failure is somewhat an endearing quality when it is partnered with passion and courage.  Relish the small steps that bring you closer to the end goal of your dreams. 

The race yesterday was well organized and a lot of fun.  I was able to see many friends and to compete in my favorite city with Pikes Peak in the back ground.  It may not have been the perfect race, but it was a success.