Reflection and Evaluation - 2 Weeks Later...

Over jet lag. Back in the saddle. Caught up. Bike put back together and bike box returned. Time to reflect a bit... Someone once said, "The unexamined life is a life not worth living." Reflection, evaluation and examination are all good things, though all too often our frantic pace of life never leaves time for this. Or, we're so tired that when we do have time, we just kick back, too wasted to think, and we watch some rerun of a movie on TV like Groundhog Day that we've already seen 13 times. (Guilty)

Actually, that sounds pretty good and actually might not be a bad thing to do when really needed. But, there needs to be times of reflection and evaluation if we are to grow and mature. I've tried to apply this to my race in Germany. I've looked at the results closely from Worlds. I've learned a few things through this evaluation.

At Worlds, in my age group, (excluding the first two guys), finishers #3 - #20 came in every 19.2 seconds. So, every second counts - EVERY second! Take one minute off my time and I'm 17th. Take two minutes off and I finish 15th out of 99. No more rookie mistakes!

Of the 19 who beat me to the finish line...

Encouraging - I beat 15 out of the 19 on the bike

Discouraging - I beat only 2 of the 19 on the run

Discouraging - I beat only 2 of the 19 in T-1 (the transition from swim to bike)

Encouraging - I was only 46 seconds off the #1 fastest bike split at Worlds in my group

Discouraging - I beat none / zero / nada in T-2 (transition from bike to run) - all 19 were faster than me

Encouraging - I beat 4 on the swim, but another 6 were less than a minute ahead of me

Encouraging - I probably had a personal best swim, did have a personal best bike and the fastest run in years

Discouraging - 2 Rookie mistakes costing anywhere from 1-2 minutes and 3-5 places

Encouraging - Out-sprinting the Brit to the finish line, and...

Encouraging - Reaching my goal of Top 20....just.

Seem like overkill? I actually enjoy this kind of thing. How will I improve without this kind of careful scrutiny? But, what about the rest of my life? What about yours? Would careful evaluation be a good thing in relation to...say...our marriages? Our parenting? Our spiritual life? Our performance at work? Other important areas of life? I think so.

Take some time. Evaluate. Reflect. Examine. Be that life (the examined life) that IS worth living.

Lamentations 3:40, "Let us examine our ways and test them..."

I Corinthians 11:28, "A man ought to examine himself..."

2 Corinthians 13:5, "Examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith..."

Linc