For as long as I can remember, I’ve tended to derive motivation and inspiration from others. Not so much other people’s achievements or notoriety, but rather various aspects of their own unique way of doing things, idiosyncrasies included!
Be it a magazine article, book, film, TV program or a simple conversation there must have been thousands of such instances that have served to motivate me in one way or another. Sometimes I’m not even sure what that motivation entails – it is more a sense of a mood swing in a wholly positive way.
Most often these various sources of motivation, be it written or visual, start with a specific person rather than an event. While I’ve certainly looked up to many people throughout my life and continue to do so, my interpretation of this admiration or respect has certainly evolved over the years.
Where do we draw the line between blind hero-worship and the simple appreciation for the little things that make a particular person stand out?
I can recall reading a magazine article many years ago profiling an athlete at the top of his game. It was actually a very good piece as far the usual Q&A’s go, revealing far more than his favourite movie/drink/training session. The article ended off with a question in bold italics asking him who his role models were, to which the athlete replied “I don’t have any.” Needless to say that whilst my thoughts at the time were that this guy must be a total idiot (I mean who doesn’t have heroes???), the years since coupled with a lot of water under the bridge have showed me that his statement was and is actually profoundly correct. I just misinterpreted it at the time.
Chris Horner’s victory at the recent Vuelta a Espana has received a lot of attention and speculation, and rightly so. It is just how you choose to interpret it. For some – myself included – I’m totally ecstatic about it. Having been a fan of Horner’s throughout his long career, I feel that it is just that Chris is finally receiving the accolades and recognition he deserves.
For others, there are questions and doubts such as:
- How can a rider nearing the age of 42 possibly win a Grand Tour?
- His palmares is rather scattered, with few big European results to speak of.
- His power output readings on the climbs border on suspicious.
Time will certainly tell if his victory is legitimate, but my being a fan of Horner’s means much more than the fact that he can ride his bike fast uphill. Rather it is his exuberance and irrepressibly positive attitude throughout a journeyman-like career that has had more than its fair share of bumps. Or that he has always just said it like it is which can come across as rather cocky. Horner has three children back in America and structures is training around their activities, meaning that his time on the bike comes at the expense of the corresponding rest and recovery that forms an integral part of the professional rider. He just loves cycling and wants to continue for as long as he can. These sorts of attributes lend a certain amount of admiration or motivation as far as my being a fan goes but that is where it stops. Whilst many professional sports people have large fan bases which put them on a pedestal, it is perhaps reassuring that they are just people like the rest us mere mortals. They all have their good points as well as their faults. As fans we can sometimes forget this fact, investing a fair amount emotional capital into these stars, which can in turn lead to a sense of denial when one of these “heroes” tests positive or goes off the rails.
Heroes or role models aside, I’ve often found that a simple change of events or conversation can influence my mood significantly. Having been looking forward to participating in this weekend’s Cape Town Marathon for the past few months, I detected a slight change in my mood over the past week or so. In short, I have been feeling a bit flat, but didn’t really know why. After a great winter’s cross-country season I had been feeling positive and upbeat about having a good race come this Sunday, but had hit a bit of a slump. Unsure if I was getting stale, slightly over-trained or just nervous, I just backed off a bit from my usually daily movement as a sort of cautionary detail, which improved things slightly but not completely. An impromptu chat at a local coffee shop with a friend of mine changed all that. We were talking about all things sporting and non-sporting when he told me how he and a friend met every Saturday for a two hour run in the forests of Table Mountain whilst training for the Two Oceans Marathon in the 1980s. His friend was a bit of a naturalist who eschewed watches and the like in favour of feel and enjoying the moment and this approach had rubbed off on him too, so much so that he cruised to a comfortable silver medal performance at that year’s event. Anyone who has ever participated in the arduous 56km journey will know that the notion of “cruising” is a bit of misnomer, but this is what happened to my buddy. Why? Because he didn’t put himself under any pressure and just ran according to his intuition, time pressures aside.
Needless to say that this conversation was wholly inspiring and my mindset changed in an instant. Pretty fragile psyche, right? Sometimes all we need is a story or anecdote from somebody else to revive a positive mindset. More importantly it served as a timely reminder that for us every day folk, sport is a form of leisure where the pressure we put on ourselves detracts from the true outcome: enjoyment. With the marathon less than two days away, I can feel the excitement rising in me. I’m just going to go with the flow and whatever time or position that delivers, so be it. And all it took was a by chance chat to remind me of that.
It has been almost a week since Chris Horner stood atop the podium in Madrid beaming from ear to ear. In the days since a friend of mine posted an update on his social network profile saying that Horner’s victory had inspired him to come out of multisport retirement and compete in Powerman Zofingen 2014. And seeing that update was the catalyst to my writing this piece.
Sometimes all we need is a little motivation from others.
