Yesterday, Wai Jia and I completed our first triathlon together. We had a great time. It is awesome to be back into doing triathlon. My last triathlon was in 2009. It was great to be out and about. One of my friends in Canada just completed his first Ironman last night as well. The race organizer set up a website to track each athlete’s progress. There was a lot of anticipation as I saw his progress in the race.
Ironman is long. 3.8 km swimming, 180 km bike and a marathon (42 km) is serious business. The exhilarating part is never knowing whether you can finish. Triathlons with shorter distance are more predictable. Even if you have a bad day, you can hold it until you cross the finish line. No one can tell you how you will feel like running a marathon after 180 km of bike. The swim, because it is the shortest distance and done in the beginning of the race, is consider easy. The tough part comes after being on race course from 7 am, as the sunset, you are tired, sweaty, drained, and pain from body parts you don’t even know they exist. But they are there screaming for you to slow down.
I sent this message to my friend after congratulating his achievement…
No one can really tell you how it is until you experience it.
Marriage life in a way is a lot like a triathlon. You can try and anticipate what will happen and do as much preparation as you want. But only after you say I do, you understand what marriage is all about. We are now married for almost ten months. During this time, I understand more about Wai Jia, more about myself, and more about us than the first two years we know each other!
The triathlon we participated in had us starting in different waves. My wave started 10 minutes before Wai Jia’s. In order for us to finish together, I waited for her on the run. It was during the run, I realize how special this triathlon is. I never dreamt of being married and let alone doing a triathlon together with my partner.
This triathlon was remembering a period in my life when I was single and doing what I love. This triathlon is also a turning point of doing what I love with the one I am in love with.
A lot of people asked me if I would ever go back to do another Ironman. To be honest, I would say no. Sure, there are days when I want to be out there pounding 100 km on the bike or running 30 km just for fun. I realize that the investment in time, energy and effort is better spent in sharing the Gospel. His Kingdom is worth a lot more than any medals or personal record I can achieve.
I didn’t have to wait too long before seeing Wai Jia running down the course. The run was tough. With her pushing me and me pushing her, we finished the race together.
To finish strong with the one you love. Now that’s a great race!
