Back when I was a young teenager – while he didn’t know it – my father showed me a valuable lesson I would come to appreciate, later in life.
Each morning, he would get up to the dark of our house, quiet as a cat, and ready himself for the day. It would be clockwork everyday to smell the fresh pot of coffee and hear the morning news on TV from downstairs as I lay in my bed gazing at the clock reading 5:15 a.m.
Never did I ask him why he got up so early. He had been retired for years from his day job but still each morning the same routine. I always admired him for that – thought it was complete madness to rise before the sun came up but who am I to criticize.
It wasn’t until I started playing basketball in middle school, continued through high school that his ways rubbed off on me. My great friend, Rashaan and I used to workout before school, always keeping the motto of “You have to work when no one else is to be great.”
Trust me, I never achieved greatness on the basketball court but we definitely dropped a ton of sweat trying. Let it be hundreds of jump shots each morning or working on our ball handling, we never missed a morning…that same routine carried with me when I first started training for triathlon.
I can remember when I was learning how to swim I joined the Master’s Swim Team at Mt. Lebanon High School using the outdoor 50 meter pool, three times a week starting practice at 5:15 a.m. – and yes, you had to be on deck by that time. I struggled at first. Since my college basketball playing days were over, why did I have to make an effort to wake up at 4:15 a.m., drive almost 45 minutes to Mt. Lebanon and jump in that COLD water?
On several occasions, my mom and dad accompanied me to swim practice to not only watch me swim but in my opinion to watch the mist burn off the pool water as the sun rose in the background. From time to time I glanced over to see them so relaxed, drinking their coffee and mesmerized by the flailing arms of the swimmers and the beautiful scene of sun and mist.
As my fascination of the sport grew and my overall goal of racing an Ironman became a reality, my father one morning after swim practice asked me why – “Matt, why do you get up to jump in that cold pool four times a week?” Without hesitation that question took me back to my basketball workouts and a simple answer came across – “That’s easy, Dad…I love to work at something when I know not many are working at the same thing.”
Days and years passed and the routine of waking early for swim practice or a morning run became consistent. I truly believe that everyone has the ability to achieve something like completing an Ironman but it takes the extra sacrifice to become close to good at it.
And that’s where embracing the ‘darkness’ or the morning as a positive not a negative is a must.
My passion for this sport and being blessed to learn from some of the best athletes in the area, one trait always stood out – the sacrifice to workout when sometimes no one is watching and sometimes when no one is doing the work themselves.
As we start this new year and we strive to attain our athletic or professional goals, keep in mind when the alarm rings out at 4:30 a.m., not to curse the day the thing was invented but to think of how, through getting through the ‘darkness’, you will better yourself in your workout that morning or getting into work before everyone else to finish up some projects.
Use the feeling of fatigue and tiredness to pull yourself out of the warm bed to work hard.
Trust me, as you cross that finish this year, no matter the distance or the event, thinking back to those mornings will make that day all the more sweeter.
Happy New Year to all!
