Tag: swimming

  • Wow, just wow

    kroc center san diegoThat’s how I felt at the gym this morning.

    I made it through the warm-up act of 20 minutes on the cycle just fine. But next came my “silly idea” of jumping in the lap pool and knocking off 5 lengths. First of all, 5 lengths is a stupid goal as it makes no sense to end a session on the wrong end of the pool. At 13 feet deep you can’t exactly skip over to the other side and be done. Second of all, 6 lengths is a long flipping way for someone this out of shape.

    So there I was, 6 lengths of the pool completed and completely humbled. Swimming is hard work! I was sucking some serious wind when it was all over. The truly humbling part, surrounded at both lanes by people in their 60s and 70s kicking my tail. An older lady of about 220 years old passed me twice. I was having visions of Moses and Noah lapping me and laughing at me. Change the world, huh? Better hope there’s world changing power attached to the keyboard. (I swear, Moses said that to me. He’s kind of a jerk for such a quiet guy.)

    But I’m not done. The plan for Kristen and I is to take turns with our mornings at the Kroc Center torturing ourselves.

    And irony is not lost on me that I’m working out at a place named for the founder of McDonald’s.

  • Michael Phelps & John Edwards

    The last two news cycles have documented two men in quest of their respective dreams. One man failed while the other conquered. Let’s face it though, both were nearly insurmountable dreams. One man wanted to be the president of the United States while the other wants to change his sport forever. In my mind, there are some interesting parallels worth thinking about.

    John Edwards is sexyJohn Edwards. I felt Edwards could have beat George W. Bush in 2004. But for some reason the DNC orchestrated the ticket of Kerry/Edwards instead of Edwards/Kerry. In my eyes only two details really matter about John Edwards failure.

    #1 John Edwards has owned his mistake. He didn’t try to pretend that it was an accident, and despite some initial hopes that the story would never become public… once it was public he dealt with it quickly. He manned up and I can respect that.

    #2 John Edwards was an idiot. Really. He broke one of the simplest rules of any man in leadership… don’t put yourself in a situation to fail. I didn’t catch all of the details, but it was clear that Edwards began traveling with his web videographer and not his wife. I don’t care who you are, no one is immune to temptation. If King David can fall so can you. At some point in the planning someone in John’s life should have said, “Hey John, I think you should take an accountability partner (like one of his kids) to Africa with you.” 

    Michael Phelps, not sexy but fastMichael Phelps. Since we’ve been moving I’ve missed most of the Olympics. But I’ve caught enough to know that Phelps has electrified the sporting world by winning 8 Olympic Gold Medals. Let’s see a couple opposite parallels between Phelps and Edwards. 

    #1 Michael Phelps made his own goal. I don’t know exactly what he means by it, but Michael Phelps desires to change the face of swimming. Winning 8 Gold Medals in a single Olympics is a crazy goal… but he made the goal and he took the steps to make it happen. Sure, he’s been blessed with a swimmers body. Sure, he’s had the best training. Sure, he’s had the best equipment. But that can be assumed of almost every swimmer in that pool. For some reason Phelps was able to take that body, that training, and that equipment to a place never dreamed of before. Think of all the millions of decisions Phelps has made over the last decade… all aimed at accomplishing his goal.

    #2 Michael Phelps is brilliant. I know I am into marketing so I notice these things. But lets just say there has never been a more wealthy swimmer. He could retire now, never swim competitively again, and just live off of the cash he’s made in commercials. Instead, Phelps knew that if he accomplished his goal, surrounded himself with the right people, that he could change the sport and his world forever. My guess is that Phelps will be the richest junior at the University of Michigan this fall. Because while this was one amazing goal, the next goal is on the horizon for him.