Never Give Up
Last Sunday morning at 6AM I was running in the dark. I was 4 miles into a 52 mile run that came on the heels of a 5 mile swim and 225 bike ride. I had been swimming, biking and now running for more than 24 hrs and was feeling it. During mile 4 of 52, I was moving at a very slow pace and I couldn't keep focused on the road. I was wobbling side to side and physically done. At that time, I thought the race was over for me. This wasn't just any race this was a double Ironman event that I had trained for the past year. I had been working on getting in the race for the year before that, but most importantly this was a personal goal that I committed myself to doing. In that hour before sunrise on Sunday morning I was ready to give up.
I came around the bend and down the hill into the crew area and that's where the race began to turn around for me. My brother Michael joined me on the next lap, against doctor's orders due to his recently broken arm that had kept him out of the race. While running I started downing some bananas and Gatorade. But what it really took were my brother's words of encouragement to change the type of race I was running. At that point I was able to make the mental shift from this is a "running race" to this is a "mental race." At this point, the pain in my legs, feet, arms, neck and head all somehow dissipated and the only thing that mattered was the thoughts in my head. I continued to find the mental strength to push the next 12 hours through all the pain and exhaustion. I had turned the corner in the race and knew that it did not matter what condition I was physically in, this race was going to be won in my head. This experience helped me see that one can never underestimate the power of teamwork and positive leadership. I would not have made it over the finish line 12 hours later, if it were not for the powerful encouragement and wise words of my brother Mike and the support and positive energy of the rest of my crew. They made this race happen for me.
In the week following the race I kept going back to those dark moments early Sunday morning and thought about what made my race different than the others that didn't finish or others that didn't make it to the starting line (more than 2/3 of the racers dropped out before the start). The one key thing keeps jumping out to me is that I believed and was told repeatedly that I could do it, that I was going to make it happen. I never thought "will I do it?, Can I make it?", I thought "I will do it!, I can Make it Happen!". Amazingly the difference between finishing a Double Ironman or any Endeavour for that matter, is do you think, "Can I do it? or "I can do it!"
In the 34 hrs and 45 minutes that I was out on the course swimming, biking and running I only questioned my ability to finish once for about a 30 min time period, which was when I was the most susceptible to failure. When I was encouraged to start thinking positively again, I changed the statement around to, " I WILL MAKE IT HAPPEN!"
At Signature Community over the past two years there have been many times that people have asked "Will we survive, Can we make it through these difficult economic times?". Through all the problems that we have encountered I have continued to say, "We will Survive! We can make it happen!"
We may have had to shed some good assets, some good people, but in the end, we will come back stronger and thrive as a company. The decisions will be painful, the cuts will be gut wrenching, the stories will be frightening, but just as I did for 52 miles (over 12 hours) last Sunday, we will continue to say "WE ARE MAKING IT HAPPEN" and we will "MAKE IT HAPPEN".
Thanks again for all your support on my crazy race (below is a short race report), but more importantly thanks for all your commitment and dedication to MAKING IT HAPPEN AT SIGNATURE COMMUNITY.
Nick
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