2010 08 22 making it happen

Susan Donnelly Ultramarathon Trail Runner. Motivational Speaker. http://www.susanruns100s.com

Making It Happen Date : August 22, 2010

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Last year on the last peak of the UTMB course.

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I’m at the France/Switzerland border again for the Ultra Tour du Mont Blanc 100-mile race. We flew into Geneva yesterday (no sleep on the flight – ugh) and arrived way early in the morning, and since we were staying here tonight, we spent the day exploring the city. After all, who knows if I’ll ever get here again?

Later at dinner, Rob and I did our usual back and forth about how lucky we were to be here.

We say this a lot (I don’t mind!), and this time, fresh off the flight and still tarred with the lingering remains of the stress of getting work, home, cats, and Cumberland Trail 50k ready for two weeks of being ignored by me, that gratefulness reminded me of something. A dreams like this doesn’t happen just because you want it to – you have to make it happen.

Dreams rarely get off the wish list by happenstance. Many take jump-off-the-cliff commitment and some unglamorous work: Figure out the qualifications Line up our qualifications Submit our entries on a French-language form Make our downpayment online in euros (do the calculation) Wait for confirmation we’re in the lottery (don’t sign up for other races during that time) Wait on the results of the lottery (“yay – we’re in!”)

Submit the remaining payment online in euros (do the calculation) Find the medical release form Get the medical release to our doctors to sign Fax the signed medical release over to race headquarters Figure out and accumulate the required gear (what exactly is “self adhesive elasticized bandage usable as a strapping?”)

Make hotel reservations Make airplane reservations Make rental car reservations This was followed by wrapping up or handing off projects at work and temporarily setting aside other priorities in the short run (the cats, the CT 50k, house remodeling projects that need to be finished before my parents visit), in addition to actually squeezing in some training for the race, to make this race happen again. Thank goodness there are two of us working on it to keep each other on track.

No, it’s not horrendous but it takes sustained effort to shoehorn all these little to-do’s into a busy life, on time, over the course of a year and keep enough attention on it while I’m paying attention to other things so that it really does happen. And I can honestly say, sitting here and just remembering last year’s race that it’s more than worth the effort and distraction during the rest of the year.

Now the work is done, and the only task left it to enjoy the experience. After all, who knows if I’ll ever get here again?

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