ESA Magic

Wow, talk about getting inspired by the best. I was honored to represent the Triathlon Club of San Diego at the Competitor Magazine Endurance Sports Awards. TCSD had 3 tables of members whom attended the awards banquet, including Darrell & Denise, both of whom were recipients of the Jim McCann Tri Club Members of the Year. Denise was also the lucky winner of the Felt cruiser.. in flaming red! Congrats Denise!

Dave & I walk in to Sea World and I run into friend and former co-worker, Scott. It's funny to think that Scott's the one who taught me how to transition... amazing what you can learn at work. Back to ESA... I've met Macca previously, and just as I was going to say hello, Dave turns me around and says "Raja, you've got to meet Mark Allen." Uh yeah.. the real Mark Allen?? Since I'm still a relative newbie to the sport, Dave's been telling me about the legends of the sport. And Mark Allen, is a legend.

Next I proceed to play some carnival games, you know, the ones you played as a kid at the fair.. and I think any 7 year old could have beat me, I was pretty pathetic.. but it sure was fun being a kid again!

After the awards presentations I met the parents of Jon "The Blazeman" Blais and thanked them for their strength. If you've ever met anyone suffering from ALS, you understand just how tragic this disease is. When I was living in Los Angeles I worked at a small family run company in Westwood. When I interviewed with the owner of the company, I thought she was from the south as she spoke with a slight drawl. Her daughter, Julie, soon took over the business and as each month passed, we watched in horror as ALS took over. First she lost the ability to speak. Then eat. Then her body broke down and not long after, she passed away. It was truly horrible. One day may the progress in stem cell research bring hope and cures to those who needed it yesterday.

Before we left I got the biggest inspiration of all. Back in high school Dave was a star cross country runner. Running is in him, so he wanted to meet Ryan Hall and his beautiful wife Sara. Ryan gave an absolutely wonderful acceptance speech and really stressed the love and support he has with Sara to get him through the days that tug on your strings of doubt. Well, there is no doubt that Ryan is possibly the best American runner of all time. Sara herself is also one of this country's best as well. Truly incredible.

But I must say... after having my doubt strings tugged something fierce recently with my own confidence, meeting Ryan & Sara gave me more inspiration that I can tell you. Just to believe in yourself. It's normal to not feel on your game, you just have to keep pursuing. If you've never seen Ryan run.... then you've never seen a man run the song of grace and inspiration.

I had my best run today in quite some time.