Do you remember the Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland? There is a section in the story where
Alice is running in place and doesn’t get anywhere. The queen notices Alice’s frustration, as Alice whines that
normally when you run, you go somewhere. The queen replies that Alice
isn’t in just any regular place,
but she’s in Wonderland. Here you
have to run at least twice as fast to go anywhere. Otherwise you’re running as hard as you can just to stay in
the same place.
The aptly named Red Queen Hypothesis has been co-opted into
evolutionary biology principle that
I’m rather fond of. It says
that species are undergoing a perpetual arms race, competing to be the best fir
to their environment. Creatures
must be continuously evolving or risk being out competed by other species who
are continuously changing. In that
sense, just by existing, we’re running, but we don’t get anywhere unless we
really kick it up a notch.
I find this directly applicable to my life: I need a
challenge emerging on the horizon to keep me focused and feeling like I’m not
stagnating, being out competed by my surrounding species. After all, we each only have one life,
so we’re insane not to get out there every day and chase down our dreams.
I recently got married. Less than 6 weeks ago. It was a
spectacular and small celebration and honestly the best day of my life. Also in 2012, I competed with my
University’s Triathlon team at Collegiate Nationals, made it to the national
finals in a huge science communication competition, visited Hawaii, Alaska,
Georgia, Minnesota, Illinois, Alabama, worked as a spin instructor with my
university’s Tri team, set PRs in the 10k and 5 miler, and oh yeah, did I
mention got married?
2012 had been an amazing spectacular year, probably my best
one yet. I’ve been so fortunate to do so much and grow as a person so much, yet
part of me fears that I’m not going to be able to follow it up.
Then a tickling idea crawled into my head. It started like that small rustling
sensation you get when a mosquito land on your arm, but pretty soon, this idea
had fully permeated into my consciousness. The only way to keep moving forward in 2013 is by doing o
something that will challenge me mentally, physically, and present a pretty
huge roo for failure. Something that will shake me, change me, and leave me
wondering how badly I want it:
I’m going to complete an Ironman.
Okay, we’ll I’m not sure I’m going to complete it just
yet. I’ve mentioned it in passing
to a few random friends and family members to vet the craziness of the
idea. I’m almost sad to say that
I’ve been met with wholly optimistic responses. Apparently my friends and family members are way more
awesome than I could have imagined.
So for the time being, I have another month before Ironman
2013 registration opens for a race in September 2013, so I’ll continue to mull
it over and think it through…
But you know, once a mosquito lands on your arm and takes a
bite, you can’t just blow it away. You either have to grin and bear the loss of
blood or kill it with a loud gnarly smack.
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