Negativity vs. Realism

By now word is getting out to various friends and family members about my new athletic journey.  After having so much support from everyone the last 10 years I was very surprised at how many people are....hesitant to give me their full support.  I have come up with a couple of reasons for this:

1:  The majority of my friends have at some point in their lives completed a triathlon and/or Ironman.  Alot of my friends have only started racing in the past 3 years or so and I feel like my triathlon career have influenced their training and racing.  I am not taking credit for their individual successes, but part of me wonders if they would be racing had I not had a part in introducing them to the sport?  Because of this influence I think many of them are very surprised with the decision to leave the sport and to return to track and field.

2: And I hope this will change, but they may see the Olympics as an un-obtainable goal.  This is very disappointing to me.  I am a very goal oriented person.  If I want to achieve something I will work my ass off to get there.  Prior to qualifying for the 2005 ITU World Triathlon Championships, my coach kicked my butt and trained me hard so that I would qualify....and i did.  My 2010 Ironman Canada I wanted to race in under 11 hours.  It was my first Ironman and was very excited to be there.  I finished in 11:21, not disappointed, quite the opposite indeed I had a great experience at that race and it taught me a lot.  That goal stayed with me going into my second Ironman race this year.  I pushed myself harder leading up to the race and on race day.  I broke 11 hours by 7 minutes......goal achieved.  I need to throw 80m to make the Canadian qualifying standard (2012),  there is no way I am going to do that in the next 12 months.  I may only throw 50m this year and there is nothing wrong with that because the year after I will work harder and throw 65m, and the year after that I will throw 80m and go to IAAF Worlds in Beijing and qualify for the Olympics. 

There is a big difference between a negative point of view and a realistic point of view.  At Ironman I was realistic that something may not go as planned and the race could take 17 hours.  By mentally prepairing for this possibility I am able to handle it and adapt faster than if I did not.  The negative person would say I am not ready and I cannot do this and not try. 

I know this is not going to be easy, but I know the rewards when I achieve this goal will be amazing and life changing.  I look forward to the skeptics coming around and joining the team.

David