Momentum

"The trick is to leap out of bed as soon as you are aware of consciousness. Up, into motion, no time for doubt, no questions asked. New day. Game on... we are out the door and in the van- on our way to work on the dream. On our way to training. This is a mission. Every day is a mission . Some days the mission is to rest, some days it’s academics, some days fun, but most days the mission is to work. The planning and thinking have been done. This is the time for doing.

Training can be fun. A run through sunbeams splintered by tall pines in the cool of evening, feeling fresh and light, skis in hard tracks, on fast snow, full of life. But today training threatens to be less than fun. Low clouds, dark and cold. We are pushing through a hard ten days of training. No one feels fresh and light. If tall pines and sun exist, I cannot remember having enjoyed running through them. Training right now is nothing more than work, laboring up a gravel road in the light rain and in complete discomfort. It is our last interval. All are head- down, snot and rain dripping off the nose, fully involved in the task. We are a soggy string of runners stretched out up a steep incline deep in the woods. Alone- save for Sten, soaked and shivering, hollering encouragement to us. We are doing it, and even if the act of training itself is less than fun right now, we are working on the dream, and working on the dream is what drives me out of bed each morning. No hesitation, no doubt, up into motion.

To commit to something grand, something that may not be possible, to say “I am going to do it,” even when you may not be able to: That is dreaming. To actually set about the task of living up to your commitment, to begin doing, to tenaciously pursue what you said you would achieve: That is working on the dream."

-excerpt from Momentum, by 2-time Olympic nordic skier Pete Vordenburg