Mile 127.5

I'm a competitive person by nature. Everything I do in life I relate to sports. Endurance sports are the only athletic activity my clumsy, weak, undersized body has any proficiency in. So by experience, I tend to draw analogies from endurance sports.

As I've discussed before, the most challenging and rewarding endurance sport I have participated in is the Ironman triathlon. If you add up all the distances in an Ironman it comes out to 140.6 miles. However, almost no one ever truly races for 140.6 miles. For the mortals, the race starts at the marathon; and more specifically at mile 13.1 of the marathon. Everything you do in training, in preparation, and during the race is setting yourself up to get to this point in both mental and physical shape to survive those last 13.1 miles. Mile 127.5 is The Line. And it's never pretty - all the planning, pacing and strategy goes out the window at this point. It boils down to a pure battle of will versus mind and body.

The marathons in the Ironman races I have done were 2 loops. So there were zero questions or uknowns about what I was going to face. I'd seen every hill and every inch of what I'd have to traverse once I got to The Line. I knew how bad it hurt when I was "fresh." Now every muscle aches, I'm light headed, near delirious and my mind starts to tell me "no-way, shut it down...If you feel this bad after only the first half, how do you possibly expect to do it again?"

So what do you do once you pass The Line? You tell yourself to put one foot in front of the other. You focus on the next tree, the person ahead of you, seeing your support crew, the turn-around, and on and on. You turn the fact that you know the course to your advantage. You know how far it is to the top of this hill or how far to the next aid station - and dammit, this is the last time you have to go over this hill or past that aid station. You think back to all that you've gone through and realize that one way or another, you WILL get through this. When the going gets really tough, you think about those waiting for you at the finish line.

Matt, I know that Ironman racing does not even come close to what you are going through. I hope you can get past the gimmicky and audacious nature of this analogy and see that The Line extends beyond endurance sports - and you're there. The journey has been long and hard, but everything you have done to this point in your life has prepared you to get through this last push. I know it will be an immense challenge - you're already tired and you know what awaits you. But nothing has stopped you yet and nothing will now. Start checking off those "last times". We'll be cheering you the entire way. And we'll be waiting for you when you cross the finish line.

The picture below is you at the start of the last round. You came out of that round beaten down but not nearly defeated. And you will rise at the end of this just like you did before. Keep the Eye of the Tiger my friend.