"Competition is a by-product of productive work, not its goal. A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others." - Ayn Rand

I love this quote. In short words, it summarizes my whole thinking about being involved in "races". Some people argue that the Ironman is not a race, but more an experience. As I've said before, I disagree. It's a race. If it wasn't a race, you wouldn't have a time limit for it's completion... After all, most anybody can complete 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking and 26.2 miles of running... Given enough time.

No, the Ironman is a race. Within many of my running and triathlon peers, I perceive two distinct attitudes towards the race. With one group, it really is about beating someone else, or being faster than "that" guy/girl. Or, in some cases, the desire to qualify for Kona/Boston, etc. before someone else does... That's the kind of race that leads to heartache and puts a lot of power in the other person's hands. After all, you cannot control how "they" train, or "their" race.

In 99.9% of all races I am involved in, there is at least one person faster than me, and at least one person slower than me. I've been fortunate and sometimes run a good enough race to have ONLY one person in front of me (I've been 2nd in one 1/2 marathon), and I have also been in the bottom third of race results.

Then there is the 2nd group, described by the quote above. I like to believe that I fall into this group. I do not wish to beat any "body". I think that the moment where I want to use someone else as my motivation is about 100 meters from the finish line, where the desire to keep up and pass or not get beat will drive me to finish strong. But if I carry that same need throughout the race, I'll take my focus off my gameplan and leave my performance in the power of someone else. I'll push harder than I should in a section, or ease off too much in another.

So, my desire is to achieve the best race I am capable of. Where that places me is up to the results at the end, but it cannot be my concern during the day. If I am trained properly I should do exactly what I plan to do. Especially in the Ironman as so much depends on choosing a pace that you know will take you for hours, and sticking to it...

Someone has defined genius as intensity of purpose: the ability to do, the patience to wait. . . . Put these together and you have genius, and you have achievement.

Can I be a genius?