My father loves the sea. He spent most of his life crossing the oceans as a captain and when I was a kid, he used to tell me a lot of stories from his trips. I remember most of those chats quite well but there is one in particular. During that conversation, he told me that “A ship in a harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are for”. I didn’t understand it at that time, but it came back to my mind a few months ago. I really like the meaning behind it and how it is applicable to daily life. Too many times we are stuck in the safe area which is the comfort zone. That area where there is no growth and where nothing really exciting happens.
Given my family background, I like to say I come from the ocean. I love it indeed and every time I have a chance I go back to it. The sport of surfing in particular has been a key part of my life for many years and still is now. The ocean brings a kind of peace that allows you to think clearly about what is really happening in your life. It has always been like this and it was surfing when I took the decision of moving to the UK again and pursuing my dream of trying to qualify for the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii.
“If it both excites you and scares you, it’s probably a good thing to try”
I started in the sport 4 years ago in the summer of 2013 and it would only take one year until I crossed the finish line of an Ironman distance triathlon. I wouldn’t recommend anybody to go from having no experience to attempting the distance but I’m not the most indicated to say so either. I watched a video of the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii the year before and that motivated me to try the sport with the strong idea of becoming an Ironman.
During those four years (among many other things), I felt in love with the sport, I got the right to be called Ironman, I represented my country as an age grouper in European Championships, did probably too many races and ended up hating the sport.
Despite loving sport, it would be nothing new to me to burn myself out after dedicating an insane amount of hours to it forgetting the reason why I do it. It had happened before several times and it also happened in triathlon.
Triathlon gave me a lot, but also took a lot from me. I had to get to the point of hating it to realize that I was doing something wrong. Again. But I guess that at least I was finally conscious of my own mistakes and for the first time, I also acted accordingly to it. Some small changes led to me finding what really drives me and why I want to do what I do.
I was once at LAX airport in L.A. waiting to cross the boarder when I noticed something “funny”. I was planning on surfing a lot for the following few weeks and hopefully forget about triathlon but since the very first moment I landed, life had something different planed for me.
It was the first week of October and on that tentative of forgetting triathlon, I had also forgotten that on the first weekend of October, the Ironman World Championships are held in Hawaii. Want to guess which is the main stop to go to Hawaii in the United States? Well, if you guessed L.A., you are totally right. I found myself surrounded by hundreds of people with their Ironman branded bags, compression tights on, lean shaved legs and a smile and excitement in their eyes that to be honest, was super contagious. My first thought really was ” I am so jealous…” but also was happy thinking that I had become an Ironman 2 years before. It only took two seconds for that happiness to disappear and a really sad feeling of not knowing what that meant anymore overcame me. I noticed that I was not jealous of they travelling to Hawaii. I was jealous of they having what I had had at one time and had lost on the way. The had a plan and a driven force.
The majority of those athletes looked 100% determined, committed to a one day race. For most of them you could also see how incredible driven they were. Even without exchanging a word with them a look in their eyes was enough. It was then clear how much I missed Ironman races. Not just the distance and the sport, but everything around it and the journey towards the finish line.
“Ironman is a spiritual path of self discovery”
On that exact moment I decided to get back into triathlon. I finally had remembered why I started in the sport and why I loved it so much. From that moment, the idea of preparing myself to qualify for the Ironman World Championship.
It all became a reality in February/March of 2016. It all started as a joke with my physiotherapist mentioning that we had an Olympic period to prepare it given I was starting the Age Group 25/29. That meant 4 years to prepare the assault to the full distance with the possibility of qualifying. It was a mix of excitement and fear towards what we were getting into. But that mix of feeling was exactly what told us that it was the right decision and so we got to work towards the dream. We started a 4 years plan to make sure we take baby steps and have real possibilities and I started to train properly again.
Now I am 50 days away of the Ironman 70.3 World Championships. The first big step into the dream after the first year. There is no day I don’t fell scared about the possibility of spending 4 years of my life committed to something that could never happen. It could be the case that I never qualify, but I am finally ready to accept that. I actually accept it now already. This is the sport I love and what really drives me now is the mere idea of finding out what is within me. Over the past years I have achieved a lot of great things in every aspect of my life so I don’t put a limit to myself. If there is one chance of succeeding, I will hold to it with everything I have.
Yes, spending most of my time on a daily basis training and pursuing my dream scares me as nothing has ever done before. And maybe because of that, just maybe, it is why it also drives me so badly towards becoming the best version of myself every day.
Pablo Marcos 