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Crossing Finish Lines
Crossing Finish Lines
By Carrie James
"GO CARRIE! "
I heard and saw about 15 of my teammates in blue and yellow jersey active.com screaming in the background.
"Sprint!"
I heard screaming my best friend, as she joined the field to execute the blocks in recent years with me. I sprint up the finish line, with applause and cries, and the announcer said: "I think it was Carrie James!". I fought back tears, my hands raised to heaven to thank God for giving me throughout the run when my legs are gone and all I had was prayer, and my lip trembling slightly as I put my number bib and Tag. The first face I saw that I passed was Mike Reilly, the Voice of Ironman – the inspiration and leader for our company in the sport of triathlon, the man who had motivated us to take up the sport. What a big greeting. He welcomed me with open arms and I tried not to cry. I wanted him to think I was difficult, after all. I'm sure he has done.
I held together pretty well, I thought, given the 3 months of training, emotional and physical obstacles, and the friendships that I lived on my way to this finish line. I joined my teammates on the button, because I realized that even if my party started, there were still members of my team who were in the legs later, still pounding the pavement to get to black and white checkered FINISH banner. I waited in anticipation … .. "Who's next?" And also applauded hard as I could with the little lungs as I left each team member crossed the finish line. "GO MIKE!" "CONNORS GO!" "GO SCOTT! I had been sick for 3 days and this day was one of the worst, so I yelled as loud I could even if my lungs were burning in every breath of athletic achievement, I had myself through. I felt that it was part of my race, I was not done until I applauded each of my teammates at the finish. After all, cheering each other on a part of our race, which is part of our history.
?
In March, two my pals to assets, Steve and Mike, cornered me and convinced me that I was a wuss for not participating in our workouts three times a week boot camp ActiveX. They promised me that my body was going to see more changes than just tracks around the bay and kick boxing classes I took with my girlfriends. I thought I had done quite well physically this year, I was meeting one of my girlfriends at the gym twice a week for kickboxing and weight, and I took Pilates twice a week. Mike and Steve assured me that all of these workouts combined would not equal three days per week of ActiveX. So I joined. And I immediately loved the workouts.
Firstly, the workouts were social. That's what got me the most. I heard 'everybody does it "enough that I wanted to be part of the crowd. He was sweating and grunting fun on top of parking garage together, laugh when our legs were limp of squats. Secondly, I liked how my body changed. The cardio I was doing at home was to help me slim down, but workouts were ActiveX cut my muscles go leaner. Even if I was sore every day for the first month, my body has become accustomed to the fight and began to feel strong. My three mile runs on the bay turned into five mile point, and by the end of June I finished my first 10K. It was the first time I had ever run 6 miles, and it felt awesome. Once again, it was my teammates ActiveX, this time the ladies, who had acclaimed the race and ran with me on arrival. I crossed the finish line my colleague and friend Karen ActiveX, and realized that with my team together, I was able to do what I could never have done alone. To the end of this race, I felt invincible, and honestly, quite impressed with myself.
Then we started training brick on the weekends. There were about thirty of our team of Charity ActiveX gathered Saturday morning for training. We rode our bikes around Fiesta Island, does swim clinics where we practiced dolphins diving in and out of the waves at La Jolla Shores, and not bike-to-run workouts at Glorietta Bay on Coronado Island. There was something on my bike, riding down the Silver Strand, a across the street from the beach where the Navy Seals train, which really inspired me. On one of these workouts brick my CEO, Dave Alberga, Rode the entire journey with me, giving me advice about my pace and efficiency on the bike. It is a very talented athlete, and was rather nice to be part of his team.
Our brick workouts eventually turned into full training Triathlon distance. Swim-bike-run. Right now, my training team had read my "I'm an athlete" e-mail and they knew how big of a deal This training was for me. I was always in the back of the pack, often the last person to finish the workout, but I ran into the park where everyone stood up, and they would all cheer and say "way to go, an athlete!" I was welcomed by big smiles and High Fives, and colleagues who were clearly proud and to my surprise, even impressed with myself.
I realize now that this whole process was a series of finishing lines. I can not speak for my teammates, but personally I crossed finishing lines of athletics I have never thought that I cross, training my body for this race. I crossed the line Arrival emotional, making each workout exhausting that I did things I never thought I was created to do things I never thought were part of my identity.
?
I kept the pace fairly well to the finish line on Sunday afternoon, until I saw my good buddy Chris cross the finish line. I felt hot tears begin to flow down my cheeks. He had such a motivation for me throughout this process, saying "you can do anything What you put your mind to "although I'm sure he thinks sometimes that I might not be able to complete the task. This e-mail me motivated during the day before I swell, I said things like "you will never regret a workout, you regret not working out. "He was always on the arrival of one of our brick workouts with a big high five and a smile, encouraged me throughout the journey.
The reason why I snapped when Chris crossed the finish line did not really need him, but he was the friend and amazing teammate. That's about the whole process, this team of people I would never myself together with the athletic plan, who believed in me, cheered for me, cried with me, cried encouragement, Busted my butt during training ActiveX. The collective team as a whole has been the exact positive peer pressure that I need to take me to another level athletic. If this had been a friend or colleague who urged me, I do not think I'd gone too far or too well done I do not have a whole team behind me. The unit has been positive team Charity ActiveX has been such a strong group, I think we have encouraged all the other places we never thought we could go. And we had fun while we did.
I decided through this process that my life from now is about setting out continuous lines Arrival in front of me, farther than I think I can achieve and do everything in my power able to overcome. Setting goals for myself at work, with my family and friends, my community service with my character as an individual. Continue to grow, continue to improve, maintain impressive myself. It is never about others. On this I can do. I believe God put us on this earth with other people (and fortunately put me in this great company with such amazing people) because we need each other to help us achieve our finishing lines, our life milestones. I believe that God will continue to put people and opportunities in my life to encourage me to finish the race. I am so grateful to him for this experience, for giving me strength, Great new friendships and a unique experience that I will never forget. Whatever I must repeat, as several times a year now.
"It's important to know that at the end of the day, not medals you remember. What you remember is the process – what you learn about yourself by challenging yourself, the experiences you share with others people, honesty demands of training – these are things that no one can remove you if you finish twelfth or you're an Olympic champion. "
~ Silken Laumann – Canadian Olympian
1 Cor. 9:24 "Do not you know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? Managed in such a way to get the price. "
Hebrews 12:1 "… let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. "
"What we have is based on time-to-choice when what we do. In each of these moments, we choose. We take a risk, either to go towards what we want or we play it safe and choose comfort. Most people, most of the time, choose comfort. Ultimately, people either have excuses or experiences, motives or outcomes, goals or brightness. They either have what they wanted or they have a detailed list of all the rational reasons why not. "~ Anonymous
"The Creator does not want you to do what you have no ability to do".
Orison Swett Marden
About the Author
First time author. Employee of The Active Network. www.active.com. Triathlete. Woman of God. Not necessarily in that order.
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