the zen of ironman

i will miss this blog. it has been a steady part of life for the past 8 months. a weekly chance to reflect on where my head is at as i prepare my body for the biggest endurance challenge it has ever faced.

like all things, it will come to and end, and very soon.

my road to penticton, this road, this time, this year, will never happen again.

i am beginning to feel strong again, and getting my mind around the challenge ahead.

i have been thinking about the zen of ironman. the bhudda's first noble truth is that suffering is inevitable. it comes, sooner or later, to everyone. we often see freedom from suffering as a gift, or a blessing, or a reward for something, but this ignores the big picture of time. in the end, we all suffer. bad things happen to those we love, to us;; suffering visits the innocent just the same as the guilty, and we are left wondering why.

many of us spend most of our time trying to avoid suffering. it is a primary goal in most people's moment to moment existence. so if we think that we should be able to avoid it, it makes sense to wonder why, what did we do wrong?, when it visits. 

but perhaps it is better to wonder how or maybe even better yet, to experience how, as opposed to finding out why suffering happens. it is part of existence. freedom from suffering and suffering are just parts of existence. neither one can really be avoided. they are both there to be experienced. and experience itself is a gift beyond anything imaginable.

the one thing for certain in the ironman is that suffering will come. you may get a good time, or a bad time. you might finish, or not. but you will suffer, no matter what. no matter how hard you train, no matter how hard you plan, no matter who supports you or who doesn't, or how prepared you are, or how well you execute your race plan, you are going to suffer. the task is just too big to complete without suffering. just as living is too big to complete without suffering.

how are you going to deal with your suffering when it happens?