The Sign of a Great Racer is Someone Who Always Leaves Him/Herself Hope

Everyone one of us has great days and not so great days, the key to turning ‘okay’ days into great days lies in your attitude and your effort. In truth, great days only happen because of your attitude and effort.

This past week, I had a pretty miserable day at Ironman Argentina. Seemed to be that the day was destined to be littered with poop within the field and in my race suit. Suffice it to say went folks offered congratulations, I had them back up as I was a biohazard for over 5+ hours of the race; pretty picture huh?

Well, while I was out on the race course, I was reminded of a story I heard years ago and I wanted to share-

There were two boys who woke up on Christmas Day. The first boy came from a ‘privileged’ background and came downstairs to a room full of presents. As he tore through his gifts, he kept on asking ‘what’s next’, ‘what’s next’, and ‘what else’. Upon finishing all of his gifts, he was exhausted and depleted as he just wanted more. He cried, kicked and screamed that he wanted more.

Compare this to another boy who came downstairs to one present. In the box was a big piece of poop. What a cruel joke someone was playing on him. Contrary to what you might think his reaction might be- disgust, outrage, sadness, the boy lit up. He ran around the house, looking left and right, looking up and down. He was so happy. When asked why he was so happy with his gift of Poop, he simply replied:

“There has to be a pony here somewhere”

Life and racing throws a lot of things at you. If you bring your best attitude and effort, you can find the pony in just about anything.

Ride On

Andy