Nothing great gets done alone

170 days to race day

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller

Well, last weekend the Super Bowl came and went in quite a disappointing fashion.  I tend to be a bit of a pessimist when it comes to sports so I quit watching halfway through the first quarter.  Apparently watching the first play from the line of scrimmage told the story of the whole game.  It was reminiscent of the Buffalo Bills string of 4 anemic Super Bowl appearances in the early 90’s but at least we always have some back stories to keep us interested when the event becomes a formality.  This year it seems that the whole world was talking about Richard Sherman’s post NFC championship game interview.

What immediately stood out in my mind was the complete and utter lack of class and decorum he displayed.  He took the focus off of a fantastic and closely played game and made it into a venue to air his personal vendetta.  He has a master’s degree from Stanford University so you can’t say he is not smart enough to understand what happened.  Maybe we can chalk it up to a bit of immaturity (he is only 25 years old) and an adrenaline bump from playing on such a big stage.

Perhaps that made his delivery excusable but something else still irritated me about the interview and I just couldn’t put my finger on it.  I listened to it a couple of more times and then heard “it”.  In a 10 second sound clip Richard Sherman used the words “I” and “me” at least 4 times.  Did he make a fantastic defensive play to allow the Seahawks to win the game.  Sure.  Was it an acrobatic feat that only an elite athlete could have pulled off?  Yes.  Could he be one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL on the best team?  Probably.  But he forgot something really important.

There is an entire army of people that got Richard Sherman to the place where he had a chance to make that play.  Forty nine other team mates strapped on the pads for countless practices and 17 games to get the team to the NFC championship.  There are numerous of coaches, trainers, and coordinators that drew up game plans and strategies to get him in the position that night.  There were parents who spent thankless hours driving him to practices as child.  There are the millions of Seattle fans who help pay his salary.  The list could go on and on but you get the idea.

The problem with Richard Sherman’s interview was not that he let his emotions get the best of him and made some regrettable comments, the problem is that he forgot all the people that made him who he is today.  That notion should permeate to all areas of our lives, even seemingly individual endeavors like endurance sports.

You heard me correct, it takes a team of people to get a single person across the finish line of any given race.  For me it started with my dad who provided me with the inspiration to begin competing in running events.  For years he quietly went about building an impressive resume of running feats – qualifying for and competing in Boston Marathon, Leadville 100 finisher, Western States 100 finisher, and a plethora of other ultramarathon finishes.  He never pushed me to follow in his footsteps and when I was younger and petulant I didn’t want to.  But with age comes wisdom (or just better observation skills) and I began to see how these things shaped him to be a better person.  When the chips were down I found that doing what my dad did for years helped me find peace.

Of course I couldn’t do any of this without such a loving and supportive wife.  Every weekend when she just wants to sleep in and spend some quiet time together she lets me walk out the door at 5:00 AM to train without complaint.  She uses up her hard earned vacation time to follow me all around the country just to witness me torture myself for hours on end and then return home to hobble around the house like a decrepit 90 year old for the next several days.  She feeds the household on a $25 weekly budget so that I can afford to get a new $2,500 set of wheels for the bike, $1,000 watt meter, $500 wetsuit, $250 running shoes, and $6,000 for an annual clothing budget.  Then she still encourages me to chase my crazy dreams and cheers me along the whole way.

There are several people who train right alongside me and are indispensable to my success.  Kurt and Todd have spent way too many hours in the pool, on the bike or running right alongside me than straight guys should do (and while mostly wearing spandex).  When I just don’t feel like getting out there I know I have to answer to them.

God willing, on July 27 I will finish 140.6 miles in under 17 hours.  If I do and someone sticks a microphone in my face I hope I have the humility to give thanks to all the people that carried me to the pinnacle – all the people mentioned above, everyone at the office for letting me sneak away to train every day (and putting up with my workout stank afterwards), the thousands of race volunteers, those who have cut a path before me (Jake, Tim, Chris), and the countless others.  It takes a village to raise an idiot and I can’t thank you enough.