The Future of Racing - If the Government Restrictions Continue, They Will Go Underground

While on the bike this AM I thought about what the future might hold for racing. It's an interesting one, but if onerous restrictions are going to be put in place for every running, #cycling, and triathlon out there, a fundamental change is going to take place.

What happened when onerous restrictions were put on alcohol?

What happened when onerous restrictions were placed on weed and drugs?

Guess what? Those things were obtained anyway. It just goes underground.

The Black Market has always been a counter to overbearing government restrictions and will eventually win out.

Some #running races have already done this. Look up Fat Ass races. Sounds funny, but these low profile races forego government permits & are free. The race directors will kindly ask for donations though.

#Triathlon is a bit more difficult to go underground, but it can & will happen also.

Government can never overcome the yearning of freedom.

#fitness #motivation #monday

Bad Times call for Strong People - Are You a Strong Person?

 Good times -->Weak People-->Bad Times-->Strong People-->Good Times

This is the cycle we are always on. We are now at the Weak People phase of our cycle, produced by our recent "Good Times" phase.

Now I understand the last 20-30 years might not feel like "Good Times" for some. But, to put it in perspective, we never had any real danger to our society and way of life since the Cold War. So in general, most of us have become soft and complacent.

We can't stop or reverse this cycle though. Trying to tell weak people to "man up" is trying to reverse time itself; it is impossible to do.

Instead, do all you can to prepare for the bad times instead. We're going to eventually have to deal with a lot of weak people that resulted from our Good Times.

As a matter of fact, we are dealing with them right now, with authoritarian lockdowns and restrictions. That is why the whole world is a mess right now.

What strong people and weak people typically are. If you are strong you need to get up and do the hard work yourself. Good things happen that way.

The ultimate goal is to chart a course through Bad Times so that you end up one of the Strong People that emerges. But you need to put in the work!

That means reducing your dependency on the system and making sure you are physically fit.

I'm in the process of doing just that. From being a Personal Trainer and Coach of a region to more of a a national one helping my fellow people out of bad situations.

All of us who's been financially and emotionally affected by lockdowns need to stick together.

 On "virtual" races for 2020 & beyond.

When this whole #Covid19 thing started earlier this yr & races on my schedule started to get cancelled, I embraced the "virtual racing" trend that kept my motivation up.

I signed up for virtual #Ironman #triathlon races on the weekends & then entered the Great Virtual Race Across #Tennessee 1000K Run in which we had 4 months to do (I finished in 80 days).

During the 1000K, the momentum just fizzled out & it became a chore #running when I wanted to schedule other #fitness wkouts.

Once I was done with the 1000K, I decided "no more virtual races."

I still see offers for virtual races in my emails & I have to say no.

I'm all for real racing again. I'm the competitive sort. Real races push me to limits more than virtual races.

Lucky I deferred 2021 races in #Florida & #Idaho; where the restrictions are much less severe; these races might happen!

Red states will more likely offer real races.

 

(finish line of 2019 Ironman Ireland, which happened during my 50th Birthday. Finishing was the greatest birthday gift!)
 

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P.S. I was asked on Parler where internationally races are most likely to happen. Here is my response...


Depends on the country. Very pessimistic about Western Europe, England, and Ireland. Eastern Europe might be a better bet; most of those countries had been under the Iron Curtain and a lot of those people still remember how life was under those terms. Poland, maybe some of the Balkan states, Armenia (with reservation since there's been tension with Turkey lately).

As for Asia... that's a tossup. There's been a lot of tension there and I would be apt to avoid right now. Latin America and Africa I don't have much research on. Australia and NZ avoid at all costs.

It's my opinion, so feel free to take or leave my advice. If you can get travel insurance that covers cancellation due to Covid, then that helps a lot.