Today, I stumbled upon another blog that feels similar to what I want to achieve in a blog: https://daviddaggett.wordpress.com
David’s blog, “Ironman for Life!” uses Ironman as a metaphor for daily living and personal growth. This is quite similar to how I reflect on endurance and entrepreneurship daily to grow. I mention Ironman a lot because the Ironman races give me the goalposts for endurance training.
There’s an instant credibility to his blog because of the races he has completed:
Ever since I started participating in triathlons in 1981, I wanted to do an “Ironman.” Now 125 triathlon races later, including 12 Ironman (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bile, 26.2 mile run) finishes, I believe I am getting closer to the reason “why?” Of course, at first there was the typical “why do you climb a mountain….because it is there” attitude. Or, “Let’s just see how tough I really am……” However once we allow ourselves to move beyond that primal thinking deeper and more fulfilling exploration takes place. ~ Source: https://daviddaggett.wordpress.com/why-ironman (2002)
I’m even more hooked that many articles were written in the 2000-2010 era. The above blurb was written 22 years ago. I can relate to what it says, and I can only appreciate the depth of experience that he has.
Over the years I have evolved to now believe that there are at least 3 main reasons for such events/participation. These include: 1) displays of unconditional love that are many times missing (or ignored) from our modern world, 2) personal internal exploration into areas not typically revealed or evaluated in everyday life, and 3) the spiritual pureness and simplicity of the wonders of nature. ~ Source: https://daviddaggett.wordpress.com/why-ironman (2002)
Cheers to that!
What he referred to as the modern world was over two decades ago. In our era of fast productivity and frequent influx of content, I appreciate the articles written 20 years ago. In many ways, I realized that things have not changed that much. I love the HBR articles that have stood the test of time for two decades, such as the ones in the HBR On Manage Yourself collection I wrote about.
Another insightful post is The Four Anchors. David explains how he lives his life pursuing the four anchors: spiritual, professional, physical, and family. I have an unwritten post on the three Fs that have made up the three pillars of my life in recent years: Fitness, Family, and Finance. David is a lot wiser and helps me see life’s meanings through the lens of a family man, entrepreneur, and athlete.
Allow me to be superficial and capture his stats here for my own inspiration, an example of someone with such consistency and dedication. This gives me the context and makes what he writes about credible. Well, it is also incredible!
David is a competitive triathlete having finished over 185 triathlons in the past 35 years, and has had an age group win or overall place finish in every age group from 18 – 24 through 55 – 59, including numerous masters wins. He has also completed 27 Ironman™ races, so far, including IM Lake Placid four times, IM Canada four times, IM Germany four times, Ironman Coeur d’Alene three times; and the Ironman™ World Championship in Hawaii in ’90, ’91, ’92, ’06, ’07, ’11, ’13 and ’16. He has an Ironman™ PR of 10:31 from IM Europe in 1997. ~ Source https://daviddaggett.wordpress.com/about-david
Thank you, David! All the best as you continue your journey!