Higher Faster Stronger - 2010

                                         

Sacha and I just sat down and waded through the Vanoc website to order (or "request") Olympic tickets.  Tonight at midnight is the 'deadline' so we couldn't avoid it any longer.  This type of pre-purchasing doesn't sit well with my personality but I had to get over that.   

It wasn't quite as painful as I thought it would be - at least from an ease of navigation perspective.  The website made a fairly complicated process pretty simple.

Where the pain kicked in (and it kicked like a mule) was at the payment stage.  You have to request all the tickets you want - knowing that you won't get many of them....  so, naturally, you over request a little.  Then you are given a "maximum amount" which represents the price you pay if you get 100% of the tickets you request.  It also represents a heart attack (that's an exaggeration... "heavy palpitations" is more accurate.)

Let's put it this way - I better not get 100% of the tickets I requested.

In the end we have requested a variety of stuff....  lots of speed skating and cross country skiing, a figure skating event for Aia and Sacha, and a freestyle skiing event that we could all go to.  Hopefully our kids will enjoy soaking up the Olympic vibe...

I also got a little speculative with the ice hockey...  trust me, if I get Gold Medal tickets I'll be on my couch at home with a beer in hand, several thousand dollars richer.

If you need to order tickets go HERE.  If you, like me, need to win the lottery go HERE.

                                           

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Chasing Green Grass

You will be relieved to find that this post, despite the title and the picture above, is not about grass (though the title would apply quite perfectly to the patchy rough I call my lawn)...

One of the downsides of having clearly defined goals is that there are times when you'd like to ignore them and do something that is "short-term smart" but "long-term stupid".

The fall seems full of opportunities that fit into that description. Here are a few of the COOL events that my friends are doing in the next few months (or over the next year) that I would love to file under "completed":

New York Marathon

Las Vegas Marathon

Boston Marathon

Tour de California cycling trip

Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro

Ironman Canada

Ironman World Championships

Xterra Racing

Climb Mt. Hood (as per Darren's suggestion a few posts ago in the 'comments')

I am not trying to say there is no way to do any of these things now - just that I have wanted to do them all and for one reason or another they conflict with my current goal.

Now, I know that my own goals are pretty cool too (if I do say so myself) but there is a tendency to peer across the fence and see very green grass on the other side.

There was a time (not long ago, in fact) when I would have tried to do it all (or more anyway) at the expense of doing any of it *well*. And, you know what?  ...that isn't wrong.  It's just a different approach. It is awesome to experience as many cool events as you can.

Lately my focus has been more on performance (i.e. try to do one or two things well) and less on experiences (i.e. just do great stuff all over the world and enjoy it.)

When my 2010 goal concludes (hopefully by racing in the Callaghan Valley at the Paralympics) you can expect me to switch gears for a while.... There are going to be some cool events and great experiences.

Not that I won't try to do well at them... just that I will accept slightly less performance at MORE things. Maybe....

Or maybe I'll try Rowing and shoot for London in 2012 (which would be 2 more years of 100% performance)...... Who can say....

One way or the other I know the grass might *always* look greener on the other side so I can't chase green grass. I have to find the sport equivalent of C-I-L Golfgreen and make the grass on my side as green as possible.

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