Insurmountable?

Starting off with a big word today.

That's how I felt last night about the triathlon. It felt insurmountable.

I can do the run, I can do the bike ride (my goodness Glen Lily Road is steep though), but I haven't really seriously swum in a long time. I had swim lessons as a kid, (thanks Mom), but I never enjoyed swimming, so I never got good at it (so I never enjoyed it, so I never got good at it. . .) so the swim is a big challenge.

I've always loved to play in the water, and I could swim well enough to get back to the boat if I fell out, or to survive if the boat sank, but that was the extent of the purpose of swimming in my mind.

So now I'm trying to learn to swim 400 yards without a rest, wait, scratch that. So now I'm trying to learn to swim.

. . . and it seemed insurmountable last night as I watched the guy in the lane next to me swim continuously for my 15 minute turn in the lane, then continue swimming while I took my 15 minute turn watching my daughter, then he kept right on through my next 15 minute turn in the lane.

. . .and it seemed insurmountable as my wife and stepdaughter swam back and forth, back and forth, over and over.

. . . and it seemed insurmountable as I couldn't manage to swim the length of the pool without pulling my head up out of the water, and as I couldn't manage more than 50 yards without a rest.

I was feeling discouraged, but then I remembered, 1 1/2 weeks ago I couldn't swim with my face in the water at all, 1 1/2 weeks ago, I couldn't manage 25 yards without a rest.

It still seems like a huge mountain to climb, it still feels insurmountable at times.

but,

Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want something badly enough. They are there to keep out the other people.

--Randy Pausch