Are you Awake

I changed my video feed today. Nothing like a long day at work (drive 1.5 hours, all day meeting, drive home 1.5 hours) to just suck the energy out of you. Of course I was also up at 4:45AM in order to get a workout in at the Y, which semi-sucked.

But I think about all this crap I'm doing and the current state of my fitness (update coming on Monday) and I'm trying to remember why I am doing this at all. Then I remember one of my favorite pre-race songs, Godsmack/Awake.

The hard driving beat and the refrain, "I'm alive, ass still kickin". I'm training, exercising, working, breathing, eating, living, loving so I can feel alive. I feel alive when:

I feel my chest heaving up and down after a hard swim, bike or run session.
I feel the sweat seeping from my pours and dripping from my arms.
I feel a dull ache in my head from pouring myself into a project at work.
I taste the herbs and seasonings of my favorite meal.
I feel the tender touch of a loved one.
I get goosebumps as I step outside for a run on a cold single digit morning.
Rub my hands on the soft fur of my dogs.
AND
I will feel unbelievably alive and Ironman ass-kickin' when I cross that finish line.

Go out this weekend, wake up and be alive.