Why do I do this?

I get asked sometimes why I like the process of training for and racing Ironman.  I wrote this poem with a different subject in mind but it also answers the question of why I enjoy the triathlon process.

A boy looked at his father and asked a question mild and meek
Why do you climb the mountain what’s up there on that peak
He asked his father why the struggle and the pain
Why ascend the cliff and make your body strain
Why climb the mountain and not the easy road
Why do you fill your path with such a heavy load
The father tried to answer but he did not know what to say
He stared down at his son his words trying to find their way
He stuttered and struggeled and tried to share the feelings in his heart
He shook his head and then he got down on one knee and began to start
I’m weak my son, I’m sorry, I have weakness in my blood
I’d rather take the easy road than toil in the dirt and mud
The natural man inside my skin likes to take the easy way
It makes me want to stop and sit in the shade all day
Overcoming is what brings me to the mountain at its base
I climb to mount to battle myself, My weakness to erase
I find the trial brings out my best, I become a better me
I leave my old self behind the struggle makes me free
You see my son we start this life as dirt just bits of ore
Its through the fire that we can become so much more
The hotter the furnace and the more intense your pain
The greater refinement your ore will one day attain
So why do I climb the mountain what’s up there on that peak
I go to make me my best self to push out all the weak
Because When my life faces it’s setting sun
I’ll only be left with what I’ve become