I think it a great article - all things are cyclical. We think life is not always "fair" but really life is inherently fair. Some days the cheetah gets the gazelle and other days the gazelle gets away - neither is good nor bad nor fair nor unfair, they just are. I am a huge fan of the Tao Te Ching et al - you can apply this thinking to so much, big or small, whether it is an entire lifetime, a tri season or an individual IM race. There will be ups and downs, but each is as it is, and all we can do is control our reaction and flow with it - water over rock. I think back to how on 9/11 I was late coming back from my morning workout and missed my train to downtown NYC - I was so pissed at myself at the time b/c I was late for a meeting. I had no idea what a blessing missing that train actually was - I would've been arriving underneath the WTC right about 9AM. The "reason" for some things (such as the Columbia) is not always readily apparent - it takes years sometimes for these things to be revealed. That does not make it any less sad nor tragic of course, but I'm sure that at some point a purpose will be revealed for the sacrifice those 7 people made.

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"To give less than your best is to sacrifice the gift." - Pre

MattMizenko.com

I enjoyed it. We all have bumps in our lives to over come but life goes on and survival means maintaining a positive attitude. Like yourself I fancy myself as a bit of a writer. That's no doubt why you and I spend so much time hanging out here on this forum. I used to write for automobile and scuba magazines every now and then. Don't have much published on the net but here's one of my stories about diving with ten foot long bull sharks in Cuba.

http://www.deeperblue.net/article.php/37/11/1

Whoops, wrong url. That one put you on page 2.
http://www.deeperblue.net/article.php/37/11/0

I read your article on the bull sharks. I liked it. Nice. Thanks. and yeah, I have done some work today.... (as evidenced by the fit thing, the reynolds fork thing, blah, blah, blah....) Thanks cerveloguy.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Great article, Brought me down then gave me hope.

I may be crazy but, if I am not learning something when I read, I quit reading it.

Best book I've read in a while is "Inside Delta Force" by Eric Haney. Fascinating non fiction by one of the founding members of THE most elite special forces unit in our military. The mental and physical toughness of these guys is astounding. Made me feel sort of wimpy for only doing Ironman.

Hey Tom, I really enjoy most of the things you write about in your daily editorial although I'm unsure of how you define 'daily'. The Dying Time was a little to Tinlyesque for my taste but still enjoyable.

I loved commitment and the story of calvin. I even sent the link to commitment to several people outside of triathlon who also enjoyed it.

I started the post about Tinley Talks and as you can probably tell I like more anecdotal type stuff as opposed to the philosophical. You have obviously been around the triathlon block and that's the stuff i want to hear about. The people you've met, the races, life lessons gleaned from the sport - whatever.

Anyway, your site is now one of my daily stops and I look forward to reading what you write. By the way, I'm in the middle of 'The long walk' as per your recommendation - great stuff! What's next - maybe you should start a book club. Worked for Oprah.

One last thing on the girl front - her loss.