Epic Challenge

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Epic Challenge

            Challenge Roth is an epic event.  It is the largest, long-distance race in the world.  The small village in Northern Bavaria hosts 5,000 athletes and attracts approximately 250,000 spectators.  One of the highlights of the course, in the entire triathlon world, is the hill at Solar, which is legendary for its tens of thousands of spectators packing the narrow road to encourage the athletes biking on the clock.  It is epic!

Epic challenges are exciting and keep us motivated.  They challenge us, stretch us, and help us to grow.  Of course, the challenge does not have to be an iron distance triathlon, just something a little beyond our typical comfort zone, or an event we look forward to with great anticipation.

Occasional epic challenges keep us motivated as we go through our daily responsibilities and activities.  It gives us something to look forward to with great anticipation and excitement.  It gets our blood flowing, and our mind focused.

Epic challenges allow us to build on our passions and focus on our ordinary pursuits with increased focus and determination.  Further, they allow us to reset our goals and our commitment to strive even higher.  Post challenge we tend to make a higher level of performance our new normal.

I have a personal theory of relativity, which basically asserts that an epic challenge makes other challenges in front of us relatively easier and more manageable to handle.  It helps keep things in perspective and makes life’s bumps in the road easier to handle.

Lotte and Deiter Reinel

Even my homestay host are “epic!”  This will be my seventh time with his German speaking homestay family whom I first met at the race in 1989.  The Family Reinel were the town bakers, and although now retired, Lotte and Dieter warmly welcome their American “son.”  It has been an amazing friendship for more than 25 years.  Although we speak little of each other’s language it doesn’t seem to be a barrier.  We communicate through love and smiles! It’s epic!

Seek out an epic challenge to lift you, build you, and make you better.  I can’t wait for Challenge Roth next week … it will be epic!

It will epic,

David