When you're on your game you know the fickleness of it. You know that you can't blame the equipment, or the field, or the ref. You know that if you do you're weaker because of it and your win, or your loss, is lessened. So it's a gift to win. Well earned or served up with a surprise, you just take it and nod and feel good about your prayers to the sporting gods, and your attitude to life in general. If you can keep it that way, win or lose, you're onto something.
The reality is that winning just relieves the pressure, for the moment. Until you lose again, or until they score one, or two, or more on you, before you muster a reply. The quality of the competition and the competitive spirit depends on your ability to understand when you've earned your gift, and when you've been graced (mercied?) with it. Today we earned it, so it feels best. To get better we'll have to see what we learned from it too - that after going down by one within the first three minutes we staved off a collapse and found a way to ignore each other's faults and mistakes, and moved forward. 30 minutes later we scored, and then 10 minutes later we scored again, and the rest, as they say ...
The victory was an earned gift today. We'll take it. We'll take it when we don't earn it too, and we'll smile and nod and say our prayers for the grace we have received.
Ride report
in: 6'C wind 10ks SE
out: 12'C wind 15ks SE
2 comments:
Congratulations!
And you are praying. And on the Miller Website, where the achievement is noted, there is a request for prayers. REALLY?! It's so American, somehow, all this athletic praying. Can't I just wish you good luck? Well, I will. And by luck, I don't mean serendipity, I mean the fortuitous coming together of all the elements it takes to win.
That reference is with tongue stiffly, firmly, in the cheek! I suppose the cheekiness was too hidden, since it's an inside joke. We're not praying. We're playing! Thanks for the well wishes!
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