Drivin n Cryin

I have some time today to read as Cade is sleeping and CadesDad is with the hounds at the dog park, actually, he is running at the off leash dog park with them. That way, he can run and not pop his knees (or shoulders) out of their sockets being pulled by two 85lb dogs.

Back to reading...I was reading Triathlete magazine and there is an article about the Tour de France (obviously, I am also behind in my reading as well as my writing). And the article spoke of not liking Floyd Landis' coach, Ventura, due to his being too prep school happy and sugar coatish about Floyd's being driven as the reason he was able to come back from a terrible prior stage to win the next day's stage. So, the article continues on to talk about Lance's upbringing and perhaps the subsequent influence on developing drive in a young person when faced with difficulty at a young age.

And I wonder if this is the way it is. Do coddled individuals ever become athletes? Or at least great ones? I suppose it is true, but we just do not hear of their upbringing as a contributing factor. Who knows? What drives the athlete?

I question this because in my profile, I write that I am driven but to what or from what or why, I do not know. It has always just been this way. In school, had to be first, had to be all A's, had to prove over and over. To whom? Me, I guess. At the Brewhouse Tri in Duluth, a group from UMD was taking a survey about a triathlete's drive and compiling the results to try and determine some basis of analyzing the athlete who competes. What makes an individual want to compete as opposed to just 'stay fit'? I know this is different as we age. With that in mind, what is the basis in a personality that makes, and I am going to say a woman for the sake of this blog, want to continue to compete and not simply go to the class at the gym to stave off cellulite? Where is that coming from? I, for one, would never so much as break a sweat if only for the 'diet' or 'fat control' aspect of it. I say women because as a whole, fewer women tend to stay competitive or even active as they age. More men have team hockey or some other sport than women. More women will fade from competition and games and go toward exercise for 'being fit'. I am the odd woman out in this aspect. There are a few of us, but we are not the majority.

As a reader of the classics, I have often found characters that have similar personalites....in one of my favs, Travels with Charley (John Steinbeck), there is this passage right at the beginning where he says “… For I have always lived violently, drunk hugely, eaten too much or not at all, slept around the clock or missed two nights of sleeping, worked too hard and too long in glory, or slobbed for a time in utter laziness. I’ve lifted, pulled, chopped, climbed, made love with joy and taken my hangovers as a consequence, not as punishment. I did not want to surrender fierceness for a small gain in yardage.”

This sums up my own personal take on my drive. Nothing is middle of the road. Perhaps, things would be more stable and more secure if that were the case. And there would be a small gain in yardage. But what else would be lost?

Gotta go...I hear Cade.