Family Tree

Me and Michael (little bro) were talking tonight (Halloween) about how to attract old customers to new technologies. I used the analogy of the tough guy (see Clint in Grand Torino) who bought his Ford Truck in 1976 and still has it. He countered with the fact that the son-of-the-tough-guy doesn't want his Dad's truck, he wants the new, exciting, sexy, sleek, high-performance, head turning, kitten purring, cutting edge, high fashion, ultra-cool, best there is. Or the best he can leverage. Times change.

Then I remembered the new Porsche commercials we saw in Kona and how I somewhat subliminally, opened a critical eye and ear. From the creation standpoint this is classic, superb writing, cinematography and execution, I get it. But I didn't get the main point that Michael did.

They were four seaters. FOUR seats in a Porsche. Sacrilege. Unheard of. Totally Wrong. But.....

They took all the things that they do right, and have been doing right for a long time, and added the one thing that they didn't do, and so created a new brand, attracting the audience that came after 1976. Hello Baby Boomers, remember your 1961 Bathtub? Do your remember what THAT was all about? It is now over thirty years down the line, and we just thought you might want some of that feeling back (with room for the progeny and starting at 100K).

I have one comment:

Fucking brilliant. Pardon my German.

Here it is:

How we go on

All the best novels are about one thing: how we go on. The characters must survive the fallout of their own cowardice, folly, denial or misguided passion. They squander what matters most, and still they pick up the pieces. I've been there and, clearly, so has John Dufresne.

This from NPR about Mr. Dufresne's seminal work, "Love Warps the Mind a Little", a novel I thoroughly enjoyed, although the ending was quite somber. Wrapping up yet another Murakami tome, "Norwegian Wood", before reentering the athletic arena and Born to Run (as recommended by VBAer EJ).

For those of you that are interested, here is the RCVman YouTube link that gives you 90 second video samples from each of the eleven RCVs currently available. If you still want to ask what I have been doing lately, this should answer that question admirably. It is how I go on.

Photo is anther of those days atop Mt. Baker way back in September.

42

I remembered when I was 42.

Thinking about the road today.

What a long strange trip it truly has been.

The choices I made to get here.

The sacrifices, the victories, the laughter, the tears.

And what it all means.

As a result of all this inexpensive introspective analysis, I have come to see that a few elements of this experiment have greater weight than others. Such as:

An ounce or pure honesty is worth ten pounds of brilliant spin.

A hard-effort loss trumps an easy, lopsided win.

I'd rather be good than lucky.

A frown on a perfect shape is no match for a dazzling smile on an "imperfect" one.

Volume is great for Rock 'n Roll, devastating for debate.

I like my truck, but LOVE my bike.

Work is important, play imperative and love impermanent.

I have to accept this, or drink myself crazy.

Technology amazes me constantly, as does our tribes propensity to abuse it.

I told my class Tuesday that sometimes I say to myself "I FEEL GOOD", 40 times a day. Yesterday, I set a PR, hitting 41 as I ran in the park at sunset.

I love my work.

I am a lucky guy.

Sometimes I wish I was smarter. But then I think that feeling good is better than being smarter.

42.

Speaking of IM St. George....The swim venue at Sandy Hallow and Tanya at Tri-Hive magazine showing off her choice of race day fuel from First Endurance on the day of the RCV shoot way back in May (I might have been younger then).

St. George RCV released!

CompuTrainer, in conjunction with RCVman Global, proudly presents the release of their eleventh Real Course Video. Of an Ironman course that has yet to run its inaugural event! The first ever Ironman Utah is May 1, 2010. And that means 185 days to train on the CT or VeloTron for what advance intel is calling the toughest IM course to date. And driving the course for the RCV shoot way back in May, I would have to agree. YOU WILL BE TESTED.

In case you missed it, here is the highlight video of the course.



You may purchase your St. George RCV (and ten others) here. http://www.computrainer.com/rm_inc/IRCVideos.htm

185 and counting down.

Go

Attitude. You had better have one. And a damn good one.

It is imperative that you see things in proper perspective. And here is that POV:

IT IS UP TO YOU.

Nobody else. Not your Mom, or your employer and not your coach. It is not the responsibility of your soul mate to guide you through the tough times. It is not up to your shrink, your financial consultant or your favorite bartender.

IT IS UP TO YOU.

How you look at the challenge. Personal responsibility. You can be the victim of the victor. As in: It's too hard. The road is too long. It's too hot. I am almost 40 years old for heaven's sake! Mercy! Cut me some slack. Lighten up. Back off. Take it easy. Chill out.

Right.

IT'S UP TO YOU.

Go ahead and take the easy way out and retire on easy street. Light the tithing candle to the god of money. Indulge. Waste. Get liposuction and start over. Build walls to keep the riffraff out. Judge.

IT'S UP TO YOU.

An attitude of respect for the process says: I am here. I have put forth effort of noteworthy sincerity. I have worked towards improvement on many levels. I have tested my resolve. I have gone to see Max and I have found both value and reward. I has been fun, I have facilitated my evolution. I have faced my fears and looked deep into the eyes of my demons. I saw them to be frauds. I am now, today, here, ready.

I KNOW THAT IT IS UP TO ME.

To go. Or not to go.

Go.

Photo is from the Fordham campus in NYC . From the moment I saw it until now, it says to me: Go, and go with attitude, young man.

Later

There is another component to the patience theory we discussed yesterday. That of time. Patience is fine if your twenty, you say, but what about those of us who were around to remember JFK (in office), were at Woodstock, or saw Willie Mays hit against Sandy Koufax? Maybe even when John Howard won Kona. Wasn't that long ago. ('61, '69, '63 and '83 to be exact), but it could be, and I love this one,

LATER THAN YOU THINK.

So please, my dear friends, while we keep an eye constantly focused on the here and now, the task at hand, the quality of our efforts and the saintly patience to see the road as the goal, let's keep the other eye seeing the past and its myriad lessons and the future and its hope and promise. It's kinda myopia and 20/20 hindsight through rose colored binoculars. But a whole lot better than cheap sunglasses.

I want you, as I want me, to use what we have while we have it. If there was a race somewhere today that I could just show up, get body marked and hit the water, I would be there faster than you could yell, "transition closes in five minutes". I love racing. It's a test. I love training, it's a test too. The better and smarter your training the better your potential to race well. Cause is training and effect is going faster than 'ya gone before. So make your causes count!

Let's train well. Let's train hard and often. Let's eat good then rest and recover. Let's manage our stress. I don't want to wait until I age up into another category (OMG there will be guys of retirement age there), I want the joy of competition NOW. I say joy because it is a joyful experience to use the fitness and acumen created from successful training on race day. My eyes have seen the glory.

So we will do it all again tomorrow. Another perfect opportunity to do something good for ourselves, and to expand our circles of influence outward where they might fall on someone else's cluttered desk. Oh, but they have deadlines. So do we.

AND IT'S LATER THAN YOU THINK.

Pix: Top, Clock in Prague. Bot, RCV (Canada) CT user in Manchester, UK. Use your time wisely, wherever you are.

Patience

They call them quanta for a reason. Leaps of profound magnitude, in one of the many uses. A quantum leap. Quanta leaps. Like when you went from being a jogger to a runner. From a wader to a swimmer. And my personal favorite, from being a follower to a leader. How about, then, from somebody who rides a bike, to a biker. Big difference.

Why?

Attitude. One day, after many, many hours of training and following, you suddenly decide (or maybe it is decided for you) that you are now (pick one) a runner, a rider, a swimmer, or all three. What a glorious day. You have arrived.

Where?

And pardon my zen. But welcome to nowhere. It only gets harder from here. Because you are not the best yet. You are not even close yet. You have to work even harder now that you are here. OMG, harder? Yes, quite. Lots harder.

How?

Just keep doing what you have been doing and keep your eye on the now. Stay here. Be present. Do what has been proven to work, Dance with those you came with. Enjoy the ride. This is it. You have made it to here. Welcome. IT WILL GET TWICE AS HARD TILL WE TALK OF THE QUANTUM AGAIN.

When?

Dunno. It's up to you. We need some patience here. We need to appreciate where, how, why and how we got to be where we find ourselves today. We need to pat each other on the back, give hugs and constantly praise each other for getting to here. We are the minority. We are the few. It will get lonely as we move towards the pointy part.

We have a long way yet to go.

Hang in there my friends. There is another quantum leap just ahead.

Patience.