More on Gratitude

I have more people to thank than will ever reach these posts.

People who barely know I think of them as inspiration.

Mark Leblanc for taking time to talk to me about growing my business and for showing me a humbling yoga experience that gives me a goal for early 2011. And for sharing his experience in his book, Never Be the Same. I do know that at the end of this journey I won't be the same. I will have gone so much farther than 140 + miles away from where I was. There will be change in my life that happens for it. In the end only I am responsible for the experience I have in this world.

Dustin Atkinson who every once in a while will make sure I know he knows this has some importance to me. "Does that day have some significance somehow" he'll ask when we're talking about November 21. Or when my answer to a question is 'let's talk about that after the 21st.' He's talking about Thanksgiving and Christmas and a birthday in January. I'm thinking that's A.I. (after Ironman) and reminded there is life after that! (He's not on this list because he doesn't already know how important he is- but that he doesn't know how much his words ground me- sometimes kick me in the shins...but ground me nevertheless.)

The triathlon training group who finished their first tri this summer. They went across a new threshold and through them I got to relive a 'first' vicariously. They remind me why I got into this again. They bring me back to getting people to experience life in a bigger way. They remind me how much alike we are in this human experience. They also reminded me of how to have fun while working again!

Coaches who spent time with my son in various was this past summer and fall. Jay, RJ and Chris, all who are helping feed dreams and create character that is a bigger value than the score itself. The legacy of Don Palmer and his value of golf as a game that reflects the type of person you are off the green and fairway. If we can shoot for the fairway and play our best through the rough, we're doing OK. I'm haunted (in a good way) knowing that he's on that course with Dustin and that what happens in the clubhouse among a foursome, or in the van on the way home from a meet, is as important as the game itself.