There is no adventure inside the box.
James Kelly
Have you ever seen a reality show that was really like real life? I hope not. If you have, give your friggin' head a shake.
In the first place, if you are sitting around watching someone else's idea of reality, you got to get out of the house. Survivor, yea OK, but I mean, that's more like a game show. Anyone watching Bridgette Neilson's show where she is living with some washed up rap guy? Holy shit man. You can't tell me that's entertainment. It's not even stupid funny. And don't go, well how do you know about it? I don't, that's why I don't know what washed up rap guy's name is.
I'd like to meet the guy who thought that that would be an interesting thing to put on TV. I'll give him a dose of reality and beat him senseless. No wonder kids are walking around with so many screwed up ideas. They think that the drunk, drugged and homeless are something people will pay you to be.
This weekend Ironman Hawaii will be showing live all day on ironmanlive.com and over the years they have worked hard to perfect the live feed for Internet and have changed the format to bring on board live helicopter feed and motor bike footage. Here at least, is some real human struggle. Mind over muscle, body over time. Not pouting for half an hour because the only boy dating all six other women living in your house has decided you're out. Somebody shoot me.
Oh well, shizzle zezzle
Friday, October 20, 2006
Monday, October 16, 2006
Dare to tri
In a world of complacency
The daring few have become just that.
James Kelly
Sometimes just getting to the start line is the hardest part. Over the last few years there have been many hazardous conditions leading up to and including race day for a number of Ironman races.
The first Ironman Utah was a disaster. Some swimmers who thought they heard the start gun headed out onto what they thought was the swim course, ending up getting pushed two km down the beach from the actual finish line.
Ironman Canada 2003, with raging forest fires all around the town of Penticton, firefighters and water bombers were at a premium. Oddly enough a burning bird nest took out the local electricity and the Friday night carboload was held on the local baseball field. Funny no one really noticed the smoke until they looked at their photos and realized they had been running in fog all day.
Now Kona, the news makes it out like the whole place is gonna slide under the waves. Well not according to a few buds who are over there racing. Looks like business as usual.
If this was going to be easy, well you know, but I mean jeeeze common guys.
Triathletes are getting too pampered. This whole sport used to be about the daring few. Now the few who dare are labelled as trouble makers or worse yet non compliant. Sometimes even looked upon as crazy. I await the day that someone looks my way with consternation and distaste. That will be the day I know I have become a true trier.
The daring few have become just that.
James Kelly
Sometimes just getting to the start line is the hardest part. Over the last few years there have been many hazardous conditions leading up to and including race day for a number of Ironman races.
The first Ironman Utah was a disaster. Some swimmers who thought they heard the start gun headed out onto what they thought was the swim course, ending up getting pushed two km down the beach from the actual finish line.
Ironman Canada 2003, with raging forest fires all around the town of Penticton, firefighters and water bombers were at a premium. Oddly enough a burning bird nest took out the local electricity and the Friday night carboload was held on the local baseball field. Funny no one really noticed the smoke until they looked at their photos and realized they had been running in fog all day.
Now Kona, the news makes it out like the whole place is gonna slide under the waves. Well not according to a few buds who are over there racing. Looks like business as usual.
If this was going to be easy, well you know, but I mean jeeeze common guys.
Triathletes are getting too pampered. This whole sport used to be about the daring few. Now the few who dare are labelled as trouble makers or worse yet non compliant. Sometimes even looked upon as crazy. I await the day that someone looks my way with consternation and distaste. That will be the day I know I have become a true trier.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Get passionate
If they are tears of joy
then start a flood.
James Kelly
What brings tears to your eyes? Is it a sense of relief at making it to the finish line? Is it the pain or is it the sense of accomplishment and empowerment that comes with what you knew all along? That you could do anything you wanted in life, you just had to find the start point, the confidence, the drive, the sense of self.
Once you understand that inside you there is a spirit greater than anything you could imagine, and once you find the way to tap into that spirit, you will meet all obstacles with the same resolve that you do on race day. Adapt and overcome. One step in front of the other, so that every day of training and racing and every day of your life makes you greater than the day before.
Don't be afraid to shed a tear or two in the process.
then start a flood.
James Kelly
What brings tears to your eyes? Is it a sense of relief at making it to the finish line? Is it the pain or is it the sense of accomplishment and empowerment that comes with what you knew all along? That you could do anything you wanted in life, you just had to find the start point, the confidence, the drive, the sense of self.
Once you understand that inside you there is a spirit greater than anything you could imagine, and once you find the way to tap into that spirit, you will meet all obstacles with the same resolve that you do on race day. Adapt and overcome. One step in front of the other, so that every day of training and racing and every day of your life makes you greater than the day before.
Don't be afraid to shed a tear or two in the process.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Hooked
If it feels good, try to remember how you did it.
James Kelly
Hey, ever talk to someone after their first half marathon? They are so stoked. You can hardly stand the bright light shining form their eyes. What would you give to get that innocence back? Really, you shouldn't have to give anything. That's the thing with endurance sports. Every day is a new day, every race has its own set of rules, every time you set out to challenge yourself you should get that feeling. The day you don't get a rush of adrenaline at the start line or at least one moment of doubt, that will be the day you give up the sport. Because that will be the day that the effort will be meaningless and there would be nothing for you to gain by continuing.
I for one, hope that day never comes.
James Kelly
Hey, ever talk to someone after their first half marathon? They are so stoked. You can hardly stand the bright light shining form their eyes. What would you give to get that innocence back? Really, you shouldn't have to give anything. That's the thing with endurance sports. Every day is a new day, every race has its own set of rules, every time you set out to challenge yourself you should get that feeling. The day you don't get a rush of adrenaline at the start line or at least one moment of doubt, that will be the day you give up the sport. Because that will be the day that the effort will be meaningless and there would be nothing for you to gain by continuing.
I for one, hope that day never comes.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Say it any way you want
If you can't speak your mind, keep trying.
Silence never moved anyone.
James Kelly
Hey, tonight I used a word that my friends and I have used for years. I used this word forgetting that I was amongst people who were not privy to the inner word group used in my circle of friends. These people assumed I had made a serious faux pas. I, on the other hand, thought my word was descriptive and spoke more to what I was imagining.
Should I apply somewhere to have this word and others that I use to be officially inducted into Websters? I mean, why isn't it as easy as selecting, add word to database. Or why isn't it as easy as having the word accepted for what it is? A bastardized version of the original. Created with a sense of humour, but with a sense of pride as well.
Like the word, sha, an obscure colloquialism confined to mid-Ontario and southern Ontario through the seventies. A slang, meaning, sarcastically yes. Unless you were from that region you would have probably looked sideways at anyone using it. That is, until Mike Myers, a Toronto region boy, brought it to pop culture in the movie Wayne's World.
I guess sometimes you just have to accept that your idea of change, even if it is as simple as scramblizing a well established word or two, will probably ruffle the feathers of those steeped in traditional word, and oh yea, boring.
Silence never moved anyone.
James Kelly
Hey, tonight I used a word that my friends and I have used for years. I used this word forgetting that I was amongst people who were not privy to the inner word group used in my circle of friends. These people assumed I had made a serious faux pas. I, on the other hand, thought my word was descriptive and spoke more to what I was imagining.
Should I apply somewhere to have this word and others that I use to be officially inducted into Websters? I mean, why isn't it as easy as selecting, add word to database. Or why isn't it as easy as having the word accepted for what it is? A bastardized version of the original. Created with a sense of humour, but with a sense of pride as well.
Like the word, sha, an obscure colloquialism confined to mid-Ontario and southern Ontario through the seventies. A slang, meaning, sarcastically yes. Unless you were from that region you would have probably looked sideways at anyone using it. That is, until Mike Myers, a Toronto region boy, brought it to pop culture in the movie Wayne's World.
I guess sometimes you just have to accept that your idea of change, even if it is as simple as scramblizing a well established word or two, will probably ruffle the feathers of those steeped in traditional word, and oh yea, boring.
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Give it away
Hold out your hands and see how many take hold.
James Kelly
Would you ask a stranger for a co2 cartridge if you were out? Hell yes you would, if it was in the middle of a race. Would you ask you're best friend for a hundred bucks if it meant your mortgage payment? Not if your life depended on it.
Why is it so easy and yet so hard? What are the parameters that make it so easy sometimes to accept or to ask for help and sometimes not be able to find the words?
Sometimes strangers become our closest friend if only for a moment as they pass by and throw a tube or a co2 cartridge our way. Yet our true friends who we surround ourselves with every day, feel like outsiders because we feel what, too much obligation, familiarity, too much, "hey guess who had to borrow from me"?
It is amazing how much giving there is our there. Not just on race day, but every day. You just have to look or ask or hold out your hand. Don't be afraid to ask because sooner or later you will be asked to give. Either way you will get more than you bargained for. Really...
James Kelly
Would you ask a stranger for a co2 cartridge if you were out? Hell yes you would, if it was in the middle of a race. Would you ask you're best friend for a hundred bucks if it meant your mortgage payment? Not if your life depended on it.
Why is it so easy and yet so hard? What are the parameters that make it so easy sometimes to accept or to ask for help and sometimes not be able to find the words?
Sometimes strangers become our closest friend if only for a moment as they pass by and throw a tube or a co2 cartridge our way. Yet our true friends who we surround ourselves with every day, feel like outsiders because we feel what, too much obligation, familiarity, too much, "hey guess who had to borrow from me"?
It is amazing how much giving there is our there. Not just on race day, but every day. You just have to look or ask or hold out your hand. Don't be afraid to ask because sooner or later you will be asked to give. Either way you will get more than you bargained for. Really...
Friday, October 06, 2006
Ride on
When the body grows weary
the memories grow strong
James Kelly
Man, some days you just got to wonder if your gonna get it done. You look at the schedule and its calling for a six hour ride with a one and a half hour run.
These are the days I try to bring back some of my favourite race days. The ones that went well and ended with some good friends and a few brews.
This may seem weird but I don't focus on the actual event itself but on the sense of accomplishment I felt in the days after.
That for me is a stronger motivator. I think of how great I felt wearing the finishers tee. Of how good it was to say ya, I finished when someone asked about the race. And in the telling of the day to anyone who would listen.
These are the things that get me out the door with some good vibe happening.
I think that come the day when the cranks have turned over for the last time and the runners are bronzed up and sitting on a mantle some where these will be the memories that will keep my spirit in a permanent state of runners high.
the memories grow strong
James Kelly
Man, some days you just got to wonder if your gonna get it done. You look at the schedule and its calling for a six hour ride with a one and a half hour run.
These are the days I try to bring back some of my favourite race days. The ones that went well and ended with some good friends and a few brews.
This may seem weird but I don't focus on the actual event itself but on the sense of accomplishment I felt in the days after.
That for me is a stronger motivator. I think of how great I felt wearing the finishers tee. Of how good it was to say ya, I finished when someone asked about the race. And in the telling of the day to anyone who would listen.
These are the things that get me out the door with some good vibe happening.
I think that come the day when the cranks have turned over for the last time and the runners are bronzed up and sitting on a mantle some where these will be the memories that will keep my spirit in a permanent state of runners high.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Game Face
The man in the moon has never smiled
James Kelly
You know that point in the day when you are starting to suffer? For some of us it's one minute before the gun goes off. For others it may be somewhere on the run. No matter who you are or where you are from. Newbie or average Vet. Some time, some where there will be a point where there will be some suffering.
The face you put on through those periods tells more about you caricature than the finish time you achieve fighting through that point.
This is not the time to vent you pain on the person who you have to rely on for the rest of your day.
I have often witnessed a volunteer taking the brunt of some athlete's misplaced sense of urgency for a miss passed water bottle or the greatest of all evils running our of gels.
I must admit that I have myself expressed displeasure( I use this word because I can honestly say I have never been angry enough to actually yell at a volunteer) to a volunteer for having been sent in the wrong way on a course, but that's the thing. There was a day when there were no volunteers, there were no gels and a lot of the time your guess was as good as mine as to which direction you were supposed to be going.
You got to love the fact that once in a while you go the wrong way and the challenge just became a little bit bigger.
Here is my question. Do you accept this challenge or do you yell at a volunteer?
Get your game face on and smile and thank your volunteer no matter how crappy you feel.
James Kelly
You know that point in the day when you are starting to suffer? For some of us it's one minute before the gun goes off. For others it may be somewhere on the run. No matter who you are or where you are from. Newbie or average Vet. Some time, some where there will be a point where there will be some suffering.
The face you put on through those periods tells more about you caricature than the finish time you achieve fighting through that point.
This is not the time to vent you pain on the person who you have to rely on for the rest of your day.
I have often witnessed a volunteer taking the brunt of some athlete's misplaced sense of urgency for a miss passed water bottle or the greatest of all evils running our of gels.
I must admit that I have myself expressed displeasure( I use this word because I can honestly say I have never been angry enough to actually yell at a volunteer) to a volunteer for having been sent in the wrong way on a course, but that's the thing. There was a day when there were no volunteers, there were no gels and a lot of the time your guess was as good as mine as to which direction you were supposed to be going.
You got to love the fact that once in a while you go the wrong way and the challenge just became a little bit bigger.
Here is my question. Do you accept this challenge or do you yell at a volunteer?
Get your game face on and smile and thank your volunteer no matter how crappy you feel.
When the going gets tough
Have you ever watched the sun rise and thought,
not this again.
James Kelly
Wouldn't it be great if you could take your work ethic in your training to every other aspect of your day to day life.
Can you ever remember a day when you had a tough workout or a race didn't go quite the way you had imagined and just said screw it, that's it, I am never going to do this again.
Ya, I know, somewhere out there someone has a legitimate reason for saying that but I mean in general. All things being semi good. Do you have a tough day and then just decide you don't want to tri anymore?
There has to be bad days. Otherwise what would you have as a base line. There would be no way to gage your great days.
Trust me, the great days are in there. Even if they are few and far between. Sometimes the distance traveled between the sweet spots make them a whole lot sweeter.
What amazing things life and athletic training are, you have the opportunity to get up tomorrow and tri again.
not this again.
James Kelly
Wouldn't it be great if you could take your work ethic in your training to every other aspect of your day to day life.
Can you ever remember a day when you had a tough workout or a race didn't go quite the way you had imagined and just said screw it, that's it, I am never going to do this again.
Ya, I know, somewhere out there someone has a legitimate reason for saying that but I mean in general. All things being semi good. Do you have a tough day and then just decide you don't want to tri anymore?
There has to be bad days. Otherwise what would you have as a base line. There would be no way to gage your great days.
Trust me, the great days are in there. Even if they are few and far between. Sometimes the distance traveled between the sweet spots make them a whole lot sweeter.
What amazing things life and athletic training are, you have the opportunity to get up tomorrow and tri again.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
The Swim
If it seems dark at the end of the tunnel
try turning on a light
James Kelly
How often have you looked down into the depths of some deep dark body of water and imagined some monster coming up out of the depths to snap you up, or swam through a patch of sea weed or grass and imagined hands grabbing at your legs and dragging you down.
Everyone has their own swim demon. That's good. What ever your fear may be you will, at some point in time have to confront it. Better it be on your own time than three hundred meters into an Ironman swim.
Don't think that you will get over your demon in the middle of two thousand thrashing bodies, many with the same fear as you.
I guess the old saying applies, the devil you know is better than the devil you don't.
Get out their and swim.
try turning on a light
James Kelly
How often have you looked down into the depths of some deep dark body of water and imagined some monster coming up out of the depths to snap you up, or swam through a patch of sea weed or grass and imagined hands grabbing at your legs and dragging you down.
Everyone has their own swim demon. That's good. What ever your fear may be you will, at some point in time have to confront it. Better it be on your own time than three hundred meters into an Ironman swim.
Don't think that you will get over your demon in the middle of two thousand thrashing bodies, many with the same fear as you.
I guess the old saying applies, the devil you know is better than the devil you don't.
Get out their and swim.
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