The Point

The Point. Upon closer inspection, or a deeper isolation of the myriad pieces to this puzzle, one simple question demands an answer. It may even be the key to the door of motivation. And we all know the importance of that door.

The point is different for everyone, but there are classifications, groups, categories that further the dialogue, and hopefully get us closer to the heart of the why.

The point is winning. To many, this is enough. From Lombardi to Al Davis, it has become a mantra of team sports. Ask a college football head coach if his income is symbiotic to his team's won-loss record. Ask a soccer tifoso at a World Cup game. Ask a boxer, a golfer a swimmer. When you line up at your next 10K, introduce yourself to the runner to your immediate left and ask her. If there is to be competition there must be a criteria for the quantification of success. In this scenario, the point is getting there first. Winning.

The point is the experience. Without question this drives many people. It pushes them up mountains and propels them into the unknown. Adventure, extreme sports, danger, challenge, adrenalin flow are all captured in real time. Afterwords we get to tell the story upon trek completion and bask in the wow factor response from our peers gathered by the campfire. Have you ever wondered how somebody got that scar on their leg?

The point is growth. Becoming something better, bigger (or smaller) faster, stronger. The road. This magic quest. To answer one of these questions: How good can I become? What is the cost? What does that feel like? Who am I? Learning to grow, allowing the process to unfold and having the dedication to sustain the effort is the point.

The point is the accumulation of material objects and the manipulation of people to create personal wealth. Ooops. NO IT ISN'T.

This is the short list of points. There are others; The need to belong, our desire to move, the joy of the dance, the art of the play. Here is my point:

The point is fitness. Mental, physical, emotional and spiritual. I find that when my fitness is peaking, everything else falls nicely into place. I love the experience of the road, the journey, training, getting there. And where is there? The growth found in winning. There is here. The point is fitness.

Everything else follows.

Here is a great article by Scott Oslter at the SF Chronicle about yesterday's stage of the Amgen Tour of California. Fitness means you have passed the test known as pain and suffering.

My beloved University of Washington Huskies have taken a page from the RCVman playbook and are now experimenting with helmet cams. This POV is terrific and helps to explain why my career QB rating was so low (if primary receiver isn't WIDE OPEN, tuck it and take off).

Pain relief by having your spine (or attitude) adjusted. At the Ironman turn in Hawi. The point in both is fitness.