A Brief Rambling on Hero's

written July 23/08

As I sit here drinking my second cup of coffee, moderately aware of the pain in my back, the likely broken rib and low grade headache resulting from a crash a little over a week ago, I find myself browsing the web page of a long standing athlete hero of mine, Clara Hughes. I read about how precious her days off are, the importance of finding something to occupy the brain for a little while, something that you can pour your focus into that is unrelated to your sport, to the demands of day-to-day training and competition. I find this refreshing as I believe this to be imperative to recovery, to longevity and success in ones sport (or life for that matter) – it isn’t balance per se, just enough of a breather to allow the morale to stay high, the focus sharp.

I start to browse through the pictures on Clara’s site; a cycling image catches my eye. I zoom in and realize that I am dead centre in one of the photos, I believe from the crit at the Tour de Montreal. I can’t help but to smile. This has made my day at a time when I need a little boost. Sometimes after a block of racing the enthusiasm wanes, the body hurts and the morale becomes flat. Thank you Clara, albeit through a completely inadvertent action, you have lifted my spirits.

The thought I take away is this: we never know how our words, our actions, will impact those around us, those far from us. We never know who we will impact, or exactly how. But we do, and we will impact others. We do so continuously. So now the challenge is to make the decisions in our own lives, our own actions and words to put our best foot forward, then tread gently even when we'd rather stomp.

I had considered it a great honour to get to compete against Clara at Montreal. I took the opportunity to introduce myself to her and we had a great conversation; I had always heard that she was super approachable and personable – she is true to her reputation and certainly a refreshing face to sport.

Thanks for reading.
Moriah

Life is short. We have the ability to choose every detail. Choose well. Enjoy the process. Enjoy the ride.