To Everything There is a Season....

A Time for Every Purpose Under  heaven:

...a time to break down,

a time to build up;

A time to weep and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn

and a time to dance;

A time to caste away stones,

and a time to gather stones together.....

After Cece finished her last ride this morning before the big race , and began her period of rest, she had this poem running through her mind.  She had a great ride this morning beating her personal best by four+ minutes.  She had not ridden fast in a while .....instead focusing on cadence work,  hills and leg work at the gym...so this was a great surprise!

Even so, she still realized that she would not be able to win the race she had been training for.  It is like she has Usain Bolt in her age category.  Who could win against him?   Instead of the Lightening Bolt, her name is Olga.

Cece has been working on herself to embrace the other reasons she is racing...to challenge herself...to see what she is made of...to push herself over that wall of pain and come out the other side....to give her all and test her own preconceived notions about what she can and cannot do!  

Many of her friends have had disappointments and were unable to win too....and she met one friend in Trader Joe's the other day and he said that he wanted to research what happens to athletes when they train so hard and do not win.  What is the psychology of defeat and then picking yourself back up again and trying again? 

It sounds much like weight gain...and then bucking up to loose the weight  you gained...or falling off that horse...and getting back on again. None of it is easy.  It takes a ferocious will to succeed despite all odds.

And Cece has learned that there are many odds besides being an Athena woman...some odds are being a parent and not having enough time to train, getting older,  getting injured, or having crisis on your job that has to be attended to...or having papers due so that you have less time to train....or not having enough money to get the equipment or nutrition and training you need ( like the woman weight lifter in the Olympics....Sara Robles...the strongest woman).   She writes a blog at Pretty Strong.

So, as she rests and drives south to her competition, Cece is going to continue working on her mind...affirming her successes and focusing on her personal achievements ...which are many.... rather that her failure to beat Olga.