Are you willing to be a beginner?
Nov 27, 2024
I admit, I was fighting it: the starting over. I was angry, frustrated, ready to give it all up, thinking only of what I could do before, and what I could not do now. Then one day, something switched.
There was a moment when I asked myself, if I was willing to start over, and what did it feel like to be a beginner. Not a seasoned athlete with the set back of an injury, but someone who had never experienced the sport.
Suddenly I was excited and alive with possibilities.
What did it feel like to swim that first full length? What did it feel like to run that first kilometer? What did it feel like to finish thirty minutes on a bike trainer? What did it feel like with all previous reference points dissolved?
And so the moments became more magical. I celebrated each baby step. That first length. The thrill of moving seamlessly through the water. The adrenaline rush of an elevated heart rate on that first one-minute run. The sense of accomplishment after thirty minutes on the bike trainer. So many possibilities.
And then... to my surprise, the muscles started to remember what they had done before. And the learning accelerated, the lengths increased exponentially, the body got excited. It was a mixture of the beginner and the seasoned athlete.
My season is no longer defined. There is no longer a fight. There is a sense of wonder of what the future will bring. What races I could choose. What the body will remember and what is required to get there. I wonder how the bionic elbow will adapt, how the shoulder will restructure, how the tendons ligaments and muscles will mould and stretch, adapt and morph.
I am curious what will unfold, and in the meantime... I did 10 lengths today. This I celebrate. And tonight, I will dream of participating on the Canadian masters team.
I will google race options. I will stalk athlete profiles; I booked training camp. And I truly wonder What else is possible?
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