Being Gracious in Defeat
Going into the 31 st annual Terre Haute Triathlon I had a single goal of winning my age-group (55-59). Bottom line, I didn’t win it, or get second, but got a close 3 rd . I’ve had plenty of experience in regional and national level events to know I’m by no means an elite triathlete. So you would think I would take 3 rd place easily. Ah, not so. In a lot of ways I felt like all was lost. Why? I guess I haven’t defeated the pride issue just yet. Had the good opportunity to talk with the Robert Smrekar who did win my age group just after the race. Seemed like a really nice guy, and if I had to lose it didn’t seem so bad to lose to him. Yet the next day I was thinking about how to go just that much faster to not let it happen again. I’m still debating in my mind if that is a good thing or not. As a person who doesn’t like to sit still, loves a challenge, and exercise this sport was made for me. I’m not a talented s...