Saturday, January 29, 2011

The Hero with A Thousand Faces

...is a book written by Joseph Campbell, a Jungian Psychologist and a student of cross cultural mythology. The Hero is an archetype, a primal structure within the human psyche. 

An archetype is like a template for your mind; it gives shape to our metaphors without necessarily determining the exact content. This can be a difficult concept to grasp, but archetypes can influence the way we see the world and they motivate our thoughts and behaviors in very powerful ways.

The Hero is one such archetype. The Hero is all about vitality, striving, overcoming, sacrifice, hardship and triumph. The Hero is the manifestation of our most private and grandiose fantasies about what it can mean to be human. The Hero is a strong person, who overcomes the odds. He (or she) often even defies the Gods in the process.

The Hero is clearly going to become an important figure in the life of anyone who overcomes adversity. He is a symbol of strength and a source of determination.

Think about why you do triathlon.What motivates you? Are we just big kids playing superhero? Have you ever noticed the similarity between a race kit and a superhero outfit? And the similarities go deeper.  We have gear with special powers, just like superheroes; gadgets, and lots of them, each with a different power and application to help us overcome the elements, and our foes. And what about sports gels? Don't they remind you of Popeye's spinach? What about the fact that Ironman itself, is named after a comic super-hero? And we are all trying to become "Ironman".

But seriously, why are you in the pool at 6 am in the middle of winter? What makes you jump into a dark, freezing lake and swim through a forest of flailing arms and legs? Why do you even contemplate running a marathon after biking the equivalent of Toronto to Niagara Falls and back? What is the inner reward? What is driving you? Why do you feel so satisfied at the end of a training day?

I bet it is your Hero that makes you do it. The more you understand why and how he is there, the more you will understand yourself,  and the more you will see the potential for self-realization that endurance sport has, and why you are attracted to triathlon in the first place.

Don't forget to help my inner hero. Go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society link and donate. Now.

http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?registrationID=1047857&langPref=en-CA

Sunday, January 23, 2011

I Know This Has Been Done Before

...but when you have cancer, it feels like you are the first person in the world who ever had to deal with it.

And, now, years later, poised to do my first Ironman, and to raise funds for blood cancers , I feel like I am the first person doing it. And I am excited, and a bit self-conscious.

Having cancer can be stigmatizing. I had a hard time telling people what was going on with me. It took me weeks, and I had already had chest surgery, before I could tell my parents. Strange, but I felt ashamed.

And after I survived treatment, my sense of shame lingered, mixed with my happiness that I was alive.  Truth be told, I am still not totally comfortable telling people about my medical history. Part of that is that same sense of stigma.

I was a top level tennis player before I got cancer.  It has taken years for me to find my way back into that athletic persona in a way that makes sense to me. Now I finally  want to do something with it. I spent years after cancer lifting weights; even kickboxing, to show myself, and the world that I was strong and no longer vulnerable. I did build alot of muscle/armor, but I didn't feel like an athlete. I thought that being an athlete was over, too much chemo and radiation.

In the last five years I have become a husband and a father. This has given me huge amounts of strength...and motivation...and a more acute awareness of the stakes that are involved in surviving cancer...long term.  Endurance is the key. The ability to last. As in life, so in Ironman. And I am once again more willing to take risks, to see what I can do. And to accept my limitations, as long as I am sure that I have reached them. And I have become an athlete again.

Triathlon is a beautiful and addictive sport. I have dreamed of competing in Ironman since I was a teenager watching the Ironwar on TV and then going outside to ride my steel Miele in my speedos. I never believed I could really do it though.

It has taken many years to get here. I am ready to start my first Ironman campaign. I hope you join me as I go along, and help out by donating to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I am sure that it is because of donations like yours that I am writing this blog now.