Friday, September 19, 2008

Force Majeure

Force ma·jeure (fôrs mä-zhûr, frs)
n.
1. Superior or overpowering force.
2. An unexpected or uncontrollable event.
3. the story of my race plans for 2007-08

Dramatic as it sounds, no less than intervening Acts of God have changed the course of my race plans this entire year. First my plans to do a 25K in Jan were wiped out, then my half-M in Feb, my tri-season in the summer (during which I had hoped to do an Olympic Distance), then hurricane Ike destroyed Galveston where I had planned to do a half-iron aquabike (of course, my loss is definitely small and insignificant compared to what the people of Galveston suffered..), and now Aviva moved up its race by 6 months.

My friends wonder why I care about Aviva so much - it's the straw that broke the camel's back. I'm tired of having my parade getting rained on.

Until I talked to a friend of mine in her 20s (who had started running around the same time as me). After winning the lottery for the New York Marathon, she found out she needed a pacemaker. Her doctor told her she couldn't do long-distance running anytime in the near future. So when I shared my disappointment with her, she looked at me straight in the eye, and said, "I know how that feels. Well, at least you still have a parade going on.." That really struck me.

So, I'll be grateful for where I am at with my training and what I can do, inspite of Force Majeure. Thanks for all the suggestions, guys! I'll keep an eye out for a new target. The plan for 2008-09 is still 3 Half-marathons in Texas, and we'll see what tri comes my way.

In the interim, I've religiously kept to my training routine this week - run workouts & swim. Am definitely sleeping a lot better these days! :)

6 comments:

gk said...

C'est la vie Sha..these are minor blips along the way in the bigger scheme of things..it all evens out somewhere eventually...and you have a lot of other good things going on for you that most people would envy.

And doing 3 halfs is no small goal that you have set yourself....then there is always CR or RR if you really feel you have to challenge yourself more ;)

Sharanya said...

CR or RR??? haha.. I've not TOTALLY lost it yet. :)

Anonymous said...

When door closes another one opens! more opportunities will come your way. You just got to keep training and get yourself in shape. You are motivated now because you are fighting force majeure, it can take your races away but not your will and motivation. Heads up! :)

Sharanya said...

True, vishi! Though I tended to be more motivated when I have set goals for myself, you know? I find it hard to train without working towards something.. anyway, it's just a matter of time before I pick a target half-iron, so I'll start searching for a new adventure. :)

Charanya said...

Babe - pick one in the USofA sometime next yr - late summer or Fall...and I will totally be in it with you!! :)

Sharanya said...

You betCHA! :) Let's scope out some races soon!