181. 'Cause F**k You. That's Why.
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Disclaimer: Some of the words in this article are not appropriate for people who can’t fucking stand bad words.
Good Will Hunting is one of my favorite movies ever. The exchange below is one of the many reasons why.
Will: He used to just put a belt, a stick, and a wrench on the kitchen table and say, ‘Choose.’
Sean: Well, I gotta go with the belt there.
Will: I used to go with the wrench.
Sean: Why?
Will: ‘Cause fuck him. That’s why.
My Greatest Tri
I did my first Ironman-distance event in Lake Placid, NY. I chose Ironman Lake Placid for one primary reason: it was, at the time, the most challenging Ironman course in North America.
Why did I want to do the most challenging course?
‘Cause fuck you. That’s why.
‘Cause if I’m swimming 2.4 miles, then biking 112, then running a gosh darn marathon, it better be the toughest, most challenging course there is. The entire point of the damn event is for it to be challenging.
Nobody ever said an Ironman race was supposed to be easy.
It turns out that I had a great day at Lake Placid, despite the relentless hills and the cold rain. I stayed steady in my pace, stayed positive in my mindset, and was feeling strong and energized when I crossed the finish line after 13-some hours.
It didn't break me.
Mission accomplished.
If You Can’t Handle The Heat
With my first Ironman in the rearview mirror, I decided to try and push my body further. I wanted to see how fast I could blaze through the distance.
I signed up for Ironman Arizona. Arizona was known as a relatively flat and fast course. Perfect for me to establish a solid PR.
Come race day, I was ready to burn it up.
It is usually the times in which you expect everything to go smoothly, that it doesn’t.
Perhaps the only predictable thing about life is it’s unpredictability.
I showed up in Arizona expecting a great day of speed. What I got was the single most physically and mentally challenging day of my life.
It was hot. Very hot. The temperature clocked in at 106 degrees while I was on the bike. That type of hot.
Participants were stalling like overheated cars. At one point they’d be moving forward and then, like a switch went off in their brain, they’d coast to a stop at the side of the road and practically fall to the ground in a heat-exhausted heap.
Too many people were pushing too hard. They were not getting enough nutrition. It was the highest drop-out rate of any Ironman race at the time (27%).
By the time I finally rolled into the bike-to-run transition area, I was destroyed. I looked around the tent and saw a practical war zone. Nurses and EMTs were catering to the people slumped over in chairs or lying motionless on the ground. People were begging to not go on. People were being carted off on stretchers.
I wanted to stop. I’d had enough. It was too damn hot. It was too damn difficult. I felt too damn sick. I did not want to run a marathon. I needed this pain to be over.
But despite the overwhelming magnetic pull to quit, I laced up my running shoes. I stumbled through the detritus of overheated bodies strewn about the ground, took a big breath, and began the brutally hot slog of the marathon ahead.
Why did I do it?
‘Cause fuck you. That’s why.
Life
Regardless of how tough you are, no matter how strong or smart or respected, the world will at some point try to break you.
It will happen more than once in your life, to varying degrees of rigor. But it will happen, that is assured.
The true you is the way you react to those obstacles.
I’m not referring to the stubbed toes, losing sports teams, or other similarly innocuous incidents.
I am talking about soul-crushing obstacles. The ones where you question your very ability to continue.
Sure, we can all kick back with a glass of chilled chardonnay in our hands, surmising about how composed and even-tempered we’ll be when confronted with chaos.
But none of us really knows how we will react until the situations arise. We don’t really know our true instincts until we’re confronted with an experience that triggers a response.
Will you hide from the challenge or push your hand through the fire?
Take a minute and think back over the times when an experience like that occurred. What was your reaction? What were the internal battles going through your mind?
What does your reaction say about you? Are you the person you thought you’d be? Do your actions match the person you think you are?
As for me, my response is always consistent. I spend a brief period of time feeling bad for myself and then, when the self-sorrow dissipates, I lift up my head, square my shoulders, focus my eyes on the future and drive myself forward.
Nothing will break me. Go ahead, give me everything you’ve got. Bring it on.
Why?
‘Cause fuck you. That’s why.
Quote
“You can measure a man’s character by the choices he makes under pressure"
- Sir Winston Churchill
Tidbits
The Last Nazi. There is no statute of limitations (3,518)
Hot Diggity Dog. Chestnut gets 15 in a row (Nathans)
Inversion. What goes down sometimes throws up (no thank you)
Another Useless Website. What website view (missing)
I will never do an Ironman. That's not my thing. But, I will stay in my job where leadership above me is lousy, the pay is less than it should be, I spend my own money to make sure my teams have the tools they need to achieve our mission, and I work my ass off to advance our work. Why? Because fuck you, that's why. We, the boots-on-the-ground teams, are changing the world.
Lake Placid 2008?