Inspire

Just a fun fact. The little prince makes his return to the ranch tomorrow. Mainly to terrorize swimmers, and tear up all the plants in my flower beds. I’m looking forward to it. I attached a picture. I think he looks very distinguished and well behaved. I have a feeling looks will be deceiving when he returns home from puppy college.

Anyway, this weekend a friend of mine got married, and I had to wear a tux. I felt much like a dog in a sweater. Ever seen a dog in a sweater? He’s not happy about wearing it, and I wasn’t too keen on wearing my tux either. Anyway, I ran into a kid I went to high school with. We visited, and his girlfriend walked up. He introduced me as “a guy I went to High School with. I took his sister to homecoming. He took me to pick out my first tie. I still have that tie.” Honestly, I had completely forgotten about that. But it was cool to be reminded that he kept that tie, and it was how I would be remembered in his mind. This little exchange got me thinking about inspiration. You would think being at a wedding would get me thinking about marriage. No dice. I can commit to Ironman training, but have little interest in life commitment. What does that mean? (Paging Dr. Freud…) Back to my thoughts on inspiration.
What is it like to inspire? Is it more inspirational to motivate people through speech, or to lead people through your actions? Is it inspirational if people live vicariously through you? How do you inspire people? Do you inspire people? I pondered this while cutting the grass. Thank goodness cutting the grass only takes an hour. I’d hate to see what I would think up if I had more time.
I came up with just living is to inspire. Live a life where you can wake up every morning, and look yourself in the eye with dignity, and tackle the day as it comes at you. Little snippets of goodness and inspiration will happen without you even knowing. The funny thing is, you probably don’t see yourself as inspirational. I don’t. But its true. If you’re reading this, chances are that you are some way tied to endurance sports (or you’re a stalker. And if you’re a hot lady stalker, I’ll warn you that my girl ENM can fight. But maybe we can make a Pay-Per-View out of it?) Anyway, my point is that the way you live life is inspiring. No need to be cheesy and get in peoples’ faces about motivation and “getting out there”. Just live. Exist. Pass a kind word every now and again. The smallest compiments you give could be the most inspiration someone has in a week. I know I was a bit down and doubtful this week about my condition for Cajunman, but I got a little boost when an elder statesman of triathlon around here (who looks eerily like Antonio Banderas), told me I was rockin’ my pool workout. He pry doesn’t remember saying anything, but it got me through my puke style swim set.
Before you run off to inspire the world, or blow this blog off as crap, just take a minute to reflect on the people you may have inspired. The people that have started exercise since meeting you, or asking about your races, training, or what is new on the horizon. Think about those people that you may have helped do their first 5k, triathlon, or even marathon. Think about the people you may have inspired to go back to school, pursue a dream, take on the world. There’s a lot of people in this world, and a lot of opportunity. Live, laugh, love. But most importantly, Carpe Diem.
As for Carpe Diem, congrats to my boy BTrumps. He mentored his friend through the Pocatello marathon in Idaho. Something about Idaho and picturesque doesn’t go together in my head, but I think the residents of Idaho do that on purpose so not everyone moves there. But every picture I’ve seen is awesome. Also on the theme of Carpe Diem, Cajunman is this weekend. 1st, 10th, or 40th overall. The result isn’t the victory, but me finally having the huevos to put out to the public that I’m going “All in” for this race. Win or Lose, go as fast as possible for the 800m/20mi/5k triathlon. Hopefully I turn up all Aces….

Thanks for reading.