Turtle

This morning I was reminded of a turtle I had about 15 years ago. I found him walking along the sidewalk in the Midwood section of Brooklyn. It was quite an incongruous place for a turtle to be and I never was able to figure out how he arrived at that place.

I was excited at my find and immediately went to the nearest pet store to find out how to care for him and purchase an appropriate habitat. I wound up getting a 10 gallon fish tank with some fake grass and some rocks. The guy in the pet store said he probably came from around a lake outside of the city and was abandoned by some kid. Once inside his new home, the turtle walked to one side of the tank and insistently tried to walk through the glass. He kept on trying to get out of his confinement in this manner for the next couple of weeks.

Eventually, the turtle gave up and would just sit in his tank forlornly. He gave up trying to succeed in accomplishing his goal of moving beyond his confines. He would barely move and I started to feel very bad for him. I did take him out regularly, but for the most part he would stay still in the tank while I was out.

Eventually, I couldn't take looking at him, sitting in his tank with this depressed look about him. I decided to take a trip to upstate New York to find a lake and set him free. I put him down by the shore and off he went. Hopefully he went on to live a happy life.

The story of this turtle came back to me as I thought about how I want to accomplish or do certain things in life. I realized that I can’t be like the turtle and just give up. Granted, the turtle didn’t have much choice, but I can still take a lesson from him. I can’t just keep doing the same things when they are clearly not working. I need to keep trying different things to get what I want and never give up.

Speaking of turtles, I am a bit dismayed that my running speed has been as fast as a turtle. I suppose it will come back, once I really get back into training, but the lack of speed is annoying none the less. Today I went out for a 6 mile run, which I did along my High Points route. The brilliant orange sun was just peeking over the horizon as I reached the highest peak.

At the completion of my first loop, I flirted with calling it quits. I was hungry and my Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) was very high compared to my heart rate. Just as I was about to give in and go home, an annoyance flooded my body at the thought of quitting and I forced myself to go on. Even though one part of my brain was telling me to do an easier route to complete the run, I wouldn’t let myself and stuck to my High Points path. Every time I thought about taking an easier route or cutting it short I let the thoughts of my children encouraging me to do Ironman and get to Hawaii flood my mind. They are expecting of this now and I owe it to them and myself to give it my best shot.