Dealing with Disappointment 2.0

 This is the second world championships race in the Hawaiian Islands that I have made the trip and been unable to race.  In 2010, I went to Kona with a fractured femur (unknown prior to the trip) and could not race. The blow to missing Kona after spending a couple of years knocking on the door was crushing and to sit and watch the race from Ali’i Drive was nearly the lowest point in my athletic life.

Now, I am faced with a similar situation here in Maui where I qualified to race the XTERRA World Championships (back in April in Las Vegas at an early season regional championship race).  That race in Vegas was the beginning of the end of my season, as it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.  Coming here, I had not ran nor cycled at all over the prior 5 weeks (where I raced and faked a top 10 result, but caused further harm to my tendons).  The difference in my psyche this time around is that I never really expected to race here so the pain of watching the racers get ready, do their rides and runs and talk about the upcoming challenge is not so bothersome.  On the surface.  Deep inside, I am more gutted than ever and want to do everything in my power to sort my injury as quick as possible so I can come back faster and stronger.  Being injured at this point of my life (career becoming a bigger component all the time) means that the racing opportunities are declining and big goals are harder to deliver.

Over the coming months, I am going to use my inability to run/cycle to focus on my swim and core strength and agility.  As my body matures, I feel that strength and agility are more and more important to staying injury free (big, big goal for me!)