I’m Better Than the Medal — Medal Monday
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This weekend my race season kicked off with a bang. I spent part of the weekend around the IRONMAN 70.3 Chattanooga and the remainder in Nashville at the Nashville Women's Triathlon, and all weekend long I found myself listening to story after story from athletes, volunteers, and spectators.
There was John Zeydel, who had a knee replacement just six months ago and yesterday went out and crushed an Ironman 70.3.
I talked with a couple from Alabama who together have lost more than 200 pounds and are now preparing for a full Ironman later this year.
In Nashville, I met a woman returning to racing after a 12-year hiatus because she finally felt the pull to come back to the sport again.
And one of my favorite stories from the weekend came from Joe Wilson, whose bike crank broke just a few miles into the ride. For a lot of people that would have ruined the entire day. Instead, he came back, volunteered, and spent the rest of the race cheering on other athletes.
By the end of the weekend, I realized the thing inspiring me most wasn’t the medals hanging around people’s necks.
It was the stories behind them.
The private victories nobody else sees. The early mornings, the rehab appointments, the setbacks, the comebacks, and the decision to keep showing up anyway.
That’s really what the “I’m Better Than the Medal” shirt was always meant to represent.
Yes, the design is funny. The banana makes people laugh, that’s part of the fun of it. But the banana was never really the point. The banana is just the spokesperson for all those personal victories happening every weekend as athletes challenge themselves to become better than they were yesterday.
The medal is great.
But the real victory is usually personal.
That’s what racing is really about.
Endurance, Always.
Written by Qavah Designs — Endurance, Always.