This past Monday, the 4th of July, I found myself getting up at 6:00 a.m. to get ready for, of all things a race. A day off from work and no clients scheduled that morning presented the perfect opportunity to sleep in. Yet there I was up early getting ready to race.
In two hours I would be standing at the starting line of Murray’s Fun Days 4th of July event. So what prompted me to enter, to relinquish the opportunity for rest and relaxation and instead challenge myself to run faster than as many of the other runners as possible? Why do we race? The answer is both simple and complicated.
I remember reading an article in my Sports Motivation class many years ago. The article by George Sheehan discussed this topic and I recall something that hit home. The quote, by Albert Camus says, “We are at home in our game, because it is the only place we know just what we are supposed to do.”
The reality is, we are hard-wired to compete. It is in competition where we find out who we are all over again, each time in new and refreshing way. I encourage you join in the fun. Who knows what you might discover?
