Being uncomfortable.

This weekend in Columbia, Maryland about 2,000 women will start this year’s Iron Girl triathlon.

For many, this will be their first attempt at the three-faceted sport of triathlon: a 1k swim, followed by a 28k bike and then a 6k run.  Some of the more gifted athletes will finish in an hour and a half.  Most of the field will be on the go for two to three hours.  Some may need longer.

What they all have in common is that at some point, and that point may come ten seconds before the starting gun, each and every one of them decided that it is ok to be uncomfortable. It’s ok to push, prod, pull, strain, stroke, and stride, and sometimes beyond the point where it feels “good.”  It’s ok to endure, even if nothing good seems to be coming from it at that moment.

In other systems such a choice would be called “delayed gratification.” Each of them is choosing to give up something immediately pleasurable in exchange for something far more beneficial.

Just about everything great in life begins with such a choice.