Not All is Lost, Not At All

While  canceling the preparations for Tour of the Gila I began thinking about all of the sacrifices I made to prepare for the race.  Hanging out with friends some weekends, hiking with my wife on Saturday mornings, staying up late to watch football games or movies, treats in the breakroom...not to mention the early mornings where you feel beat and drained, but the training window is ever-shrinking and you must go or get caught short.  And that doesn't even consider the pain and suffering of training!

For the briefest of moments I was sad, thinking, "It's all for not because I'm not going to Gila."  (Yes, I've known this for a few days now, but my concussed brain has the perpetual spinning worry wheel, like a computer app that's slow to load.)  I quickly realized that this was not the case at all, it's not a waste.  True, Gila is out the window, at least for this year, but so much good has come from those sacrifices I made, even the tough ones.

I have gotten far more from the preparation for Tour of the Gila than I could've imagined.  I raced a lot, and learned even more.  I love racing, so I got to do a lot of what I love is perhaps the better way of saying, I raced, a lot!  I made a lot of new friends, and reconnected with old ones.  I found myself on the podium quite frequently, even winning a couple of road races.

I told myself that regardless of the outcome of Gila, it was a win for me because I'm able to participate again.  Well, I can't participate right now, or for a few months, but this is temporary.  I am able to ride and race again.  Because of that, missing out on Gila is not a waste of the sacrifices made.

My new plans are to use this down time as an opportunity to further rehabilitate some of the lingering issues from my back injury (muscular imbalances, neuro-muscular inefficiencies), as well as focus on weight loss for a few months.  I'm going to try to get down to 180 before the end of the summer.  I'll participate in races that fit my schedule in the remainder of 2017, but I'm not training for any of them.

So, missing out on Gila doesn't mean anything has been wasted.  To the contrary, this is a win.  I discovered I can still ride and even race, which is no slight miracle of an outcome, regardless of how well I can race I'm spending time with great people, I am making the most of the opportunities presented to me, learning a lot about something that interests me, and enjoying life.  If that's a loss, well, I'll be a loser all day long!

Thanks for reading.