Exceed

In 1989 Paula-Newby Fraser completed the Hawaii Ironman in 9:00:56 breaking her own course record that she set in 1988 by an entire five seconds. After three more years of hard work and dedication, she breaks her own course record in 1992 by nearly five minutes to become the first woman to break under the legendary nine-hour mark at the Hawaii Ironman with a finishing time of 8:55:28.

I'm certainly amazed at the athletic achievements of Paula-Newby Fraser. There's no way to accomplish such feats without the hard work and dedication that would make most people crumble. But it got me thinking, what drove her to keep going? What made her strive for more? Why did she feel the urge to exceed herself which drove her to years and years of hard work?

To exceed oneself is a staggering and mind-boggling concept. Not every person possesses the underlying characteristics to strive for more. I think the norm in the developed world is to become content quite early in life. Society seems to set some prototypical minimums for us to achieve; college degree, job, house, marriage, kids, big screen TV, etc. But why do most people stop there? Why do most people seem to achieve the set minimums and lack any desire to exceed themselves? I know I'm asking the wrong person. You are an Ironman which means you aren't content with meeting the minimums. You are one of the few that choose to exceed yourself. You try harder, you work harder, you dream bigger.

Is it something that we are born with? Were we born to exceed ourselves? I think back when I was a kid. I would have considered myself as quite a "normal" kid. I didn't win at the science fair. I didn't get great grades growing up. I wasn't particularly better at sports than any of the other kids. However, I do have a lot of memories of trying to exceed myself even back then. I wanted to always catch a bigger and bigger fish. I wanted to see if I could climb that tree. I would sneak into my Dad's woodpile in an attempt to build bigger and bigger ramps to jump on my bike.

As you are quite aware, a good chunk of society thinks you've lost your marbles when they discover that your pleasure and pastime is doing Ironman. They can't seem to relate to why you would want to exceed yourself. They can't understand your reckless abandon towards athletic accomplishment and personal achievement. For what? You won't get any sympathy if you injure yourself, or are tired, or had a bad race. It's a delicate balance of constantly pushing yourself to your limits but at the same time being careful not to cross that magic line of "oops, I've gone too far." But we don't know our limits unless we cross that line once in while to give ourselves the feedback that we have new limits to break. Sometimes we know better, but we try anyway to do something that in hindsight "wasn't the smartest thing to attempt."

It reminds me of being a kid again. I would often try to figure out what's possible and once in a while I would surprise even myself. Maybe I would get my bike, build a ramp and try to see how many of my neighbor's garbage cans I could jump. Common sense would sometimes kick in just enough for me to conclude, "Hmmm, there's a very good chance that I'm not going to make it.I better put on the football helmet!" As a kid, I always felt a sense that I was invulnerable in a football helmet. I am not sure why I never correlated eventual bodily harm when I put that stinking football helmet on.

There was a pretty good chance that if I was wearing that football helmet, one of three things was going to happen; 1) my mother would waste another afternoon in the emergency room with me, 2) I'd be picking scabs for the following three weeks in math class or, 3) there was another miracle on Roosevelt Avenue. I think everybody in the neighborhood eventually figured out the routine. It was free entertainment for them. The news would spread like wildfire, "Hey everybody, come quick!!! Kindzia is running out of his basement with the football helmet on!" At the time, I don't think anybody put much thought into my desire to exceed myself. They just knew it was an ethnically diverse neighborhood and that my family was Polish.

Ironman is all about exceeding ourselves. You are one of the few in our society that is striving for excellence, working hard and finding your limits. When most people have arranged their lives in an attempt to get through their days with the minimum of fuss and with the minimum of work, you choose the contrary. You go out of your way to take what life offers you, even when difficult to do so.

Some people wonder why a person would climb Mount Everest . For those that have done so, they probably would say, "Because it was there!" Why surf a twenty foot wave, swim with a shark, jump out of an airplane?" Why try to swim 1:24's per 100 if we could already swim 1:25's? Why cycle at 21.1 mph if we could already cycle 21.0 mph? Why is running a 3:59 marathon in an Ironman so important if we've already run one in the low 4's?

"Citius, Altius, Fortius." Those three Latin words mean "Swifter, Higher, and Stronger" Those three words are the Olympic motto used to describe the goals of great athletes. We try because we wonder if we can. We work hard because we think we can. We accomplish because we believe we can.

Paully Kindzia is an age-group athlete pursuing a goal of qualifying for Kona. He is a partner in a private investment management firm in Alpharetta , Georgia which is a northern suburb of Atlanta . When he is not working, he is usually swimming, biking, running or washing dirty laundry.