IronMan Arizona
Excerpt from a personal blog written in November 2022.
A few days ago Sam completed his first IRONMAN triathlon—a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, and 26.2-mile run.
I’ll let you in on a secret. One I’ve learned from watching him train for this race over the last eight months. What’s the biggest difference between those who compete and those who don’t? Two simple words. Show up. That’s it. Show up today. Show up tomorrow. Then keep showing up.
I’ve found myself thinking about our conversations over the last year leading up to Sunday and how the IRONMAN triathlon was a good metaphor for life. There are dozens of lessons that can be pulled from his experience and if you’re really curious you should reach out to Sam—but I’ll mention one. A few weeks after signing up for the race, I asked him why he was doing it. I was happy to cheer him on but it sounded absurd to me. Why put your body through something so physically and emotionally exhausting? In addition to quoting a couple of his favorite inspirational athletes, he quickly told me, “Emily, I’m not doing it because it’s easy. I’m doing it because it’s hard. In life, we so often have things we don’t have to prepare for or that we can do at any moment..how often do we do things that require us to work consistently for months on end to achieve?”
Ok…keep going.
“We get stronger by doing hard things. What better way to empower yourself than to set a bold goal and do everything you can to accomplish it? You don’t give up when things get hard. You keep going.”
He wanted to live that. He wanted me to see that. To be honest, I think he wanted to remind both of us that as we navigate our lives together as husband and wife. We keep going. We don’t give up. We do hard things. Then we do harder things.
“There were moments in the race I wanted to walk, stretch, and catch my breath. I was in pain. I look back now and see that even though I was well-prepared, this triathlon demands a combination of preparation and willpower on the day of. You can’t have just one of them. You need both.”
All that being said, his IRONMAN has come and gone—he survived and, thrived? I couldn’t help but ask him how he looks at the race differently now that it’s over. “I used to think half marathons were the peak of my fitness. It’s interesting to look back at something I once thought was so far-fetched, like an IRONMAN triathlon…but then I did it. I can’t help but think about what other things in life seem inconceivable but are possible?”
It appears there are no limits for Sam Goad—other than the self-imposed ones that exist in his mind. But I have a pretty good feeling he’ll spend the rest of his life testing that hypothesis. I can’t wait to be along for it every step of the way.