give it all you've got

Yesterday, I got to watch as some friends put their training to the test and hit the water and pavement in a grueling triathlon in Wright City, Mo. In many ways, it was your ordinary intermediate triathlon: 1000 yard swim – 28 mile bike – 6 mile run. About 330 finishers. But out of the ordinary were yesterday's temps... Average June day high: about 85 degrees. Yesterday's high: 96 degrees with 85% humidity. Not exactly ideal race weather. Especially for your first-ever triathlon.

We, the spectators, sought shelter from the sun wherever we could: from the shade of a delivery truck to the shade of a portable outhouse. Nice, right? But yesterday wasn't about us. It was about them. The swimmers. The bikers. The runners. Giving it all they had without an ounce of shade. All in the name of overcoming one's self. Of desiring to achieve what seems, at times, impossible. Of health, of fitness, of accomplishment. More about yesterday's race: here. And results: here.

What difficult things are you working toward accomplishing?