04/05/2023
Fellow HardCore Athletes, Thanks again for all of the Birthday Love.
Other than figuring out how to go faster whilst having some fun, what was learned from my 61st lap around the Sun? Just this: Courage is knowing it will be hard and painful and doing it anyway. Foolish is the same. And such is the paradox of ERG Racing; and Life!!!
For the record(s), I did 44 crazy foolish things this past year…What sane person drives 9,000 miles--with their wife and Erg--to 7 different low elevation cities, to break 296,000 meters of World Records (average pace 1:41.8)--with ZERO background in rowing? Thank GOD my wife said “I do” before all of this “I want to break records” foolishness started :)
Was it ridiculously hard and painful? Absolutely!!! Would I do it again? In a heartbeat…Our wisdom comes from our experience, and our experience comes from our foolishness. I learned a LOT in this process. But not everything—except pizza and cookies--that’s valuable is on the other side of foolishness. And such is the inimitability of ERG Racing in building courage for all things mind, body, and spirit. "
I’ve always operated under the assumption that it’s far better to risk looking like a fool for love (like flying to Colombia for a breakfast “date” with a woman met on Match) for your dreams, for the adventure and pain of being alive, then to rank amongst those timid and rusty flywheels that know neither victory nor defeat. And if you decide to go for it, go big or go home!!! The greatest risk is never aiming too high, and failing; but that we aim too low and succeed.
Erg Racing--and HardCore Training--isn’t pretty. It’s never comfortable. It always hurts, and sometimes makes you want to cry and quit. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves indelible marks on your memory, your consciousness, your heart, and your body. You always take something good with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.
What I took with me--other than a blog post by our brethren at C2 https://www.concept2.com/news/meet-world-record-holder-bill-nurge — are the vivid memories of dozens of gritty World and American Record performances I experienced vicariously through 17 of the all-age athletes I coach.
What I want to leave behind—and my foolish goal for this year—is to muster up the courage to organize and share evidence of my myriad discoveries, in an effort to help more athletes all over the globe move forward with more fitness, and better performance.
Is it possible? ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE if you’ve got the courage to give it all you’ve got, at the of risk looking like a fool for your dreams and the adventure of being alive. Go Team :)
