While ripping down a mountain at 40 MPH on a bike, Ted McDonald realized that he’s finally becoming the man he wants to be.
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Ripping 40 miles an hour downhill on my mountain bike; dirt and dust flying everywhere; rocks shooting up into my chain ring; my water bottle pops out of my cage; hundreds of racers around me; all of us hoping that no one else crashes! There is order, somewhere, in the chaos, I know there is. I hope there is!
This past weekend I completed the Tahoe Trail 100. It’s a 100k (62mile) mountain bike race and part of the Leadville Qualifying Series. The Leadville 100 MTB is the famed “Race Across the Sky.” It’s 100miles all above 9000ft of elevation with some serious climbs including Columbine, a 3000 foot 10 mile climb that takes you up to 12,400ft elevation. Definitely not for the faint of heart, but I never could’ve told you 10, 15 or 20 years ago that I would be flying to Colorado to do just that!
Nope, I never could’ve told you I would be a mostly vegetarian, non-smoking, non-drinking, yoga teacher, endurance athlete. What? I almost still can’t believe it. But let me take you back a bit to my early days. I was your normal football/baseball/lacrosse playing high school kid. I moved to NYC to pursue a career in the arts and wound up partying more than anyone should. Or at least more than I could handle. Thankfully I got the lesson pretty quickly, stopped this destructive behavior and went off to college to get an education. Back in those days people went to college to party, I went to New York City. That began the slow process of me figuring out who I really was and what I wanted out of life. I’m not going to bore you with details, but I spent lots of time in contemplation thinking about what I liked, what I loved and how I could create an awesome life for myself.
Someone asked me once, “what do you do that makes you feel alive?” At the time it was yoga and of course being with my then girlfriend. I am a dude, ya know. But it got me thinking, what other things made me feel alive? And hey, what if I could string together 40,000 things that made me feel that way? I would have a pretty spectacular life! Thus, my quest began.
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I started running, which then led to my first marathon, then my first triathlon, then to my first adventure race. In a few short years I found myself competing in a 24-36hr adventure race that included mountain biking, kayaking, mountaineering, navigation, trekking, rappelling and more super cool events and obstacles along the way.
I was seeing the world like I’ve never seen it before. In fact, different then how most everyone sees the world. And that is what I fell in love with, doing those things that I never in a million years I thought I would do.
That brings me back to my first marathon. I always believed that marathons were for olympians. It never crossed my mind that I could run 26.2miles. I can’t tell you why, it just never crossed my mind. Then I had a friend who “suckered me in” to doing the marathon. He convinced me to join his training group when they were running 10miles. At the time I had run twice in 3 years. I knew I would be incredibly sore, but he said that they were running for 3 minutes and walking 1 minute for the entire 10 miles. I thought, anybody can do that!
Then there I was, race day, doing pretty well for the first 17 miles, suffering for the next few. Then running around the corner at mile 25 something profound happened. I began to weep. People were running by me, spectators were cheering us all on. No one knew that I was crying like a baby beneath my sun glasses. But I realized at that moment, that no matter what — I could’ve stopped and walked the last 1.2miles — I was going to finish a marathon.
And I did. I jogged across that finish line in 4hr 32min. At that moment the time didn’t matter, my mind had been blown. I couldn’t believe what I had just accomplished. And if it wasn’t that terrible with such an incredible payoff and sense of satisfaction, what else was there that I never thought I could do? The world was my oyster.
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And now I hand that oyster over to you. What is it in your life that you never thought you would do? How can you take those easy and sometimes not so easy steps to achieve it? Maybe it’s climbing to the top of Mt. Whitney, maybe it’s hiking the Appalachian Trail, maybe it’s competing in an Ironman. Only you know what that little voice tells you will give you a big payoff.
Here are 5 things to jump start your way to conquering your athletic goals:
- Sign up for a race. Yup, commit! It’s the only way. When you commit you’ll be forced to train or injure yourself and none of us want that.
- Get Outside. There is something about reconnecting with Nature that makes us happier and puts us at ease. Go for a hike, a bike, a trail run. Pick a less populated trail and take the road less traveled. You’ll be glad you did.
- Start medium and grow organically. I’ve seen people make the big mistake by biting off more than they can chew. I recommend starting with a medium sized challenge and creating then climbing up your own ladder of achievements.
- Eat Right. I can’t tell you to get outside and challenge yourself without telling you to properly fuel your body. If you don’t already think this way, I recommend you start: your food is your fuel. Your body will thank you.
- Recover right. Regardless of your age, recovery for the body and mind is one of the most important things you can do to increase your chances of achieving into the Golden Years and beyond!
If you need some direction or recommendations feel free to contact me on twitter @teddymcdonald – See you out there!
photo courtesy of the author