2012 Opener and The Choice

So I scraped up some money and slipped off to Boise Idaho this weekend to participate in my first competition of 2012. I felt a different level of commitment and confidence as I pulled out of the driveway on Thursday knowing that this was the first road trip to kick off this highly anticipated season.

Before I get into my thoughts on the matter I’ll fill you in the competition. With severe pain in my right shoulder blade, nagging soreness in my right quad and IT band, and now a strain which seems to span through my entire left rib cage I still easily managed to jump 5.35m (17’6.5”). Not the best result, but not bad for a season opener. I also accomplished two important training goals on the day, which were more important than the height cleared as they will initiate a passage to greater heights in the near future. It was another great learning day and only helped heighten my confidence to another level. Mistakes were made, but regrets are a waste of my energy. The same mistakes will not be made again and I can be better for it.

It should be clear to you now that I am pursuing what I feel is my greatest chance for success through a path not of perfect technique or physique, but of mind and spirit. I may not have had a choice in the matter as I have been dealt poor odds in the health department making it difficult too both, amend my technique, or increase my fitness level. I’ve learned to hang onto what I have in both departments and maximize it through the power of mind, which has proven to remain my only option. But the belief in what I am doing grows stronger each day of this new year.

During grueling training sessions in and after college I can remember pushing through intense pain and agony to finish workouts that were basically designed as “gut checks”. Sometimes with several intervals left for completion, my body was already begging me to stop, and one important idea or philosophy forced me over those humps every time the doubt of ability crept in. I knew that I would finish, and finish as strong as my body was capable, not because I chose to, but because I had no choice. Quitting or giving partial effort did not compute, they were not even options. I had to finish with everything, every time. That’s how I succeed, and it can be valuable for much more than gut checks. It’s hard to describe the thought and rationale through words, but it was extremely powerful and I hope that its depth can get through to you in some way.

I’ve taken that underlying principle of triumph created by an almost existential level of commitment out of the training regiment, and placed it into competition making it my statement for 2012.

 I will succeed, trust my decisions, and accomplish all I have set out to do, not because I choose to, but because I don’t have a choice.