On the advise of this website, I went out (ordered from Amazon) and bought Scott's book. Though a bit repetitive and it read like a Masters Thesis (which I would venture a guess some of it was), it was worth the effort.

The main point of the book dealt with pro athletes struggle to find themselves after retiring, and in particular, Scott's battle with depression after the end of his career. This was eye-opening as most people think it's nothing but golf tournaments and tv gigs for retired athletes. Tinley points out that most athlete's lifes are defined by their participation in sport, and when that is over, they do not who they are.

As crazy as this may seem from a weekend warrior, I somewhat related to this with my own experience from IM Wisconsin. Wisconsin would be my first Ironman, and for a year it did define me. It became the answer to any question anyone asked me :

"Want to play golf Saturday"
"Can't, doing a 100 mile ride."

"Dinner Friday night?"
"Sure, how does 8 sound? I've got to go to the pool after work."

You get the picture. You all have been there.

Once race day came, and went, my life seemd a bit empty. There was no longer the desire to squeeze in that quick run before the wife came home or hop on the bike and ride for hours. What was the point? Race was over. I called this time my post-Ironman funk. Slowly, I've come out of it and just started working out again.

Now, multiply that by 1000 which must be how Scott (or any athlete) felt after racing for 20+ years and then retiring. Not easy stuff to deal with. Took him a long time to realize he was who he was regardless of whether he raced or not.

Long story short, I recommend reading Racing the Sunset - just forgive Tinley on his style and focus on the message.