But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with the waves: for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit: and they cried out of fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And He said, Come. And when peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. Mt. 15:24-32 (KJV)
At times even as athletes, we tend to loose focus from time to time. Just like Peter we see the waves of adversities and we allow other things to take away our focus. We use excuses like an pain of a previous injury, heat , nutrition, or I just wasn't feeling it. Sometimes we use personal issues to keep us from training. These issues will do alot to distract you and make you loose your focus. This is exactly what happened to me in early July.
The Tremont Triathlon was such a highpoint of my year so far. After the race I boarded a plane for Florida for a nice week long vacation in Sunny Florida. Since this was suppose to be a vacation I should have taken the week off to heal. I did do a sprint triathlon and also did the run course 2 additional times as well. I did not do this. I instead ran during the week thinking I was keeping my fitness up. What did happen was it allowed my inner thigh injury to flair up leaving me with 2 weeks left and having to use the elliptical, and training indoors. With the injury and just returning from vacation left me with little desire to train. I had to force myself to train for those last 2 weeks, and it was like pulling teeth. I fought myself tooth and nail everyday to get up and go. I tried everything to get focused. Still no focus!!!
My last resort was prayer. I hate the sound of this, but it is true. I now think and believe that God should be my first option not my last resort. I must say if Tremont was the beginning of God starting to really work on my life then The Evergreen Classic was the first lesson. As I went to God in prayer, and begged Him for his help. I knew there was no way I could do this on my own. The Monday before the race after praying I felt God's peace and that He would in fact be with me. My focus was rough at best but I knew that the Lord would have my back.
On the day of the race the water was to warm for a wet suit. This was OK because I had an open water swim plan. As our wave was getting staged in the water. I had decided to start on the outside front. my thinking was I am a good swimmer at best and did not want to get caught up in the fight this year, but just before the start there was a snake in our staging area. I am terrified of snakes. some brave soul did catch the snake and threw it out of the swim area. The whistle blows and we were off. the swim went well. out of the water into transition and off on the bike. I am still doing well. As I get out on the bike I feel really comfortable and rode really well. I just knew I was gonna have a great run. Into the transition and off on the run. My run was starting out good but not great. My inner thigh started to hurt and the heat was heating up. I got to about 2.3 miles into the run and I just could not go, and I started to walk and run. It was at this point I was starting to loose focus and was getting frustrated. The heat was pushing the 90 degrees. I did see some of my fellow age-groupers pass me. It was during this point I really wanted to quit but something told me to just keep going. My focus was all but gone now. I was so upset with myself and I really wanted to quit. Despite all of my desire to quit I kept pushing on. I think if it had been a loop I would have quit. I then just told myself the sooner I do this the sooner I can pack up and go home. Down the stretch I saw my Girlfriend (Julie) and my fellow teammates cheering me on.
Finally I was done and I consumed 2 bottles of water and grabbed a third one to drink. I then went to pack my gear. I was done and I knew it. As I was packing my gear, Julie asked me how I felt and I told her how my thigh was hurting. after I pack up I went to my car and placed my gear in the car. Julie convinced me to just go see how I did and get something eat. Food at a Triathlon is sometimes the best part of the race. As I went to see the results, I was amazed to find out that I placed 5th in my age-group and qualified for Nationals. For my efforts I received a cow bell trophy and a t-shirt that said, "I qualified for the USAT Nationals".
As I had said earlier, I had prayed about this race and felt like God had my back and he did. Despite loosing my focus. I had looked at the the waves of pain, I felt the waves of heat,and I felt the wave of exhaustion. I fell in the Sea of Pity. Despite it all God pulled me out of the waters of self pity. he put me on a Rock (Jesus) and delivered me from the storm. When God says, "He has your back".You just have to believe it to be so.
We as Christians know that the Lord will never leave us or forsake us. He feeds us in the presence of our enemies. God is Faithful. Like in this race God was with me despite the stormy waves. He is with us on our walk with Him. I will at times see the waves of adversity. We will go through waves of temptations. Be bounced around in the storms of self pity, but God wants us to be stead fast on Him. I need to remember to keep my eyes on Jesus and not on the waves around me. So as we continue in my Journey of Life, please follow along with me as I try to stay focused. By Staring at Lines.
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