what is passion? July 26, 2008
Have you ever stopped to consider what passion is? What is it that pushes us to our limits…to pursue some far flung goal?
On my training ride yesterday, as often happens, my mind was given the opportunity of free time and space to consider whatever it desired. That’s the great thing about a bike ride…it gives the mind free liberty, or poetic license to ponder whatever the hell it wants to ponder. Not unexpectedly, since it’s late July in southwest Colorado, I got caught in a monsoon rain. I was supposed to do a series of hill repeats today. As the rain turned into a deluge, I began to smile. I love getting caught on my bike in a rainstorm. Not because it feels good, but because I enjoy the feeling I have after having suffered through it. This wasn’t a nice midwestern lazy soaking rain. It was a stinging thunderstorm rain. I felt as if I were riding through a gauntlet of twelve year old boys equipped with bb-guns and slingshots; who’d been given strict orders to make their one shot count. Every drop stung as it struck my face and lips….pulling my head up to look forward brought new levels of pain. I loved it! But why? That’s when my mind started considering the word passion and what it meant.
Passion can be an intense desire or enthusiasm for something…I agree with that. Passion is also used to describe the last moments of Christ’s life…intense pain. I have no plans of getting religious here, so don’t worry. Passion, I think, is large enough to encompass both intense pain and intense pleasure…the common link is intense desire. I have an intense desire to become faster and stronger. I have to go through intense pain to get there. Once I’m there (wherever that is), I get to enjoy the intense pleasure of reaching my destination. But really, the pleasure is in the journey, painful though it may be, not in the destination. At a cellular level, our emotions and passions are much the same. Pain, desire, joy….passion is what pushes us through, and it’s what greets us on the other side. About half-way through the run in every triathlon I’ve ever competed in, I say to myself, “This hurts sooo bad, why do I do this? This is it, I’m never putting myself into this kind of pain again.” Moments after finishing, I realize why I do this. It’s the one part of my life where I am actually able to push myself to my limits…through agonizing pain…coming out on the other side of the finish line feeling that much better about myself, and looking forward to pushing myself just a little bit harder next time. In life, if you’re not pushing forward, you’re essentially dying. I have no intention of going down without a fight…my passion prohibits that. Life is not worth living without a passion.
As a 38 yr old married with 2 children who has just found triathlon I would like to thank you for this blog.
It’s such a profound feeling to train for tri’s. My first brick workout took place after my first ever 4 hour bike ride on a slushy Sunday in March. I got home with numb hands and feet, walked in the door, kissed my daughter (she was the only one who cared to meet me at the door), slipped out of my riding gear and slid on my running shoes for a 30 minute run. I was exhilarating to put my body through that much pain. I felt that passion.
I did my first road triathlon this past May and it was a 70.3. I did it with no team support, no family to cheer, nobody but my own will and my passion to finish. When I got home the only thing that hurt was my cheeks from my perma-grin.
Next year I plan on doing either the Lake Placid or Florida Ironman races. I cannot wait to come home from a 6 hour training ride and slip on my sneaks for a 2 hour jog……
Thank for the positive feedback JP! It appears that you not only have the passion, but you’ve also discovered the simple beauty found in the solitude of triathlon training. Keep it up!