Defining a Legacy

I was listening to sports radio (Colin Cowherd) this morning on the way to the final day of E3, the video games industry mega-trade show. He was talking about an Orlando Sentinel newspaper column that indicated LeBron James' entire career legacy would be defined by his performance in tonight's Dallas-Miami NBA Finals game. It got me thinking. Are we as triathletes defined by our event performance? Or one event in particular? If I fail at Ironman Coeur d'Alene does that mean my triathlon career is a failure? What about all the hard work that is poured into getting to that moment? Does it not mean a thing?

I think not!

Only the person creating the legacy ought to define the legacy. With his or her own imprint. And that imprint is made with the hundreds upon hundreds of hours of training -- whether for school, or work or sports.

Then, I got to imagining what it would be like to wake up the next day after a poor Ironman performance and read all about it in the blogs and news sites. That my legacy is defined by that moment. That would be tough to overcome. I guess it all comes down to expectations, and internalizing others' expectations instead of focusing on one's own goals. This is an important point for all us triathletes (and my fellow IM CDA competitors) to remember in the coming weeks. No matter what happens on race day, we all put in the hard work to get to that moment. Sure, it's disappointing not to hit the time goal you trained for -- I know, I've been there. But it doesn't mean your "legacy" has to be tarnished. Your legacy is reaching high for a goal, sticking with it, FINISHING the race and still being known forever as an Ironman.

THAT is our legacy. Nobody can take that from us.

17 days and counting.

PS: This is my run data from this past Sunday with Jason. Jason, this should help give you an idea of why the Garmin 310x rocks!