The day I turned 39

Motivation, June 25, 2019

...is when everything started to make sense.

   As I am going thru this "midlife crisis", which by the way I don't think is a crisis it's simply an opportunity, but I like to make fun of it because if you google the symptoms it's pretty much all the changes that I have been going thru. And this is exactly what I am talking about here today. 

   The process started long ago, probably around 2014 or so, when I really started to question the whole ironman thing. Since then I kept asking myself what Ironman really meant to me. The truth is I was getting really tired from racing and the cheating in the sport (sorry for those who do it clean however, but the large amount of the field does not fair), and in 2015 that was building up so bad that I actually hit a bad depression phase in my life. I actually took 4 weeks of from training to rethink, and that is when i decided to do 1 more ironman, just for the hell of it. I decided 1 more ironman and a few weeks later we decided to try getting pregnant.

   Decision made and we got pregnant at first try. Luke was so ready to come plus I was a good swim coach, therefore my boys are really good swimmers 😜. That happened 2 weeks before Ironman Cozumel. I went to the race but my mind was in another planet, the fatherhood planet. The race was horrible, I dehydrated badly and did not finish, but we got a good little vacation in Cozumel. Since I DNF this race, I still wanted to do one more Ironman before Luke was born, because I was already thinking about retirement. So I register to the 140.6 hits triathlon series in Naples. I went to the race, I finished and I rushed home to have dinner with my wife and Luke (we were 12 weeks pregnant), since the race was only 2 hours away from home. But yes, I raced for almost 10 hours, then sit down and drove 2 hours home. The funny thing is that I won the race but it didn't fucking matter. What it matters most was to be with my family, that is why I did not even stay for the podium. 

   Fatherhood, for me at least, brings a sense of rebirth, and one of the things I really want to teach Luke is to be himself. I think this is the most important thing any parent can teach their kids. To have an idea, when we were pregnant I had so many people saying "oh Luke will be a great athlete" and my answer was always one: "He is going to be whatever the hell he wants to be." 

   So what Ironman really meant to me?

   Well, a few days ago I turned 39, and it was the day that it all started to make sense to me. You know how I make fun saying I am in a midlife crisis (btw thank you, some of my memes had almost 1000 likes) learning how to play the guitar, skateboarding again etc, that is not a crisis that is a re-connection, a rebirth. Ironman for me was a big self discovery journey teaching me a lot of things about life and Luke brought me the inspiration that I needed and now I am finally ready to share.

   After Luke was born I actually changed my coaching company to this non profit organization (The Go Luke Wygand Foundation) with the idea to help Dads, since I saw no support for Dads in during our hospital stay with Luke and a lot for Moms. I have been doing this since 2017, the hard part was on how I was going to share. I usually say we all have challenges, and my biggest challenge is an emotional challenge since I was emotionally numb for many years. That is why I did ironman for so long because; I loved the pain, and the hours by myself training listening to heavy metal. Going to that repeatedly movement for hours that made me tab into deep emotional scars that I had, to a point that when Luke arrived I was so ready to be his Dad. 

   So here it is the RW 3.9 version, and how I am sharing this journey:

   All I can say is that all is all connected. Yes, all of it, your inspiration, your motivation, your challenges, its all part of a big picture. Meaning you are the storm. The medicine for that is simple,  its like one of my favorite songs from Motorhead says; 

🤘 Rock it 🤘,

Richard Wygand - A Dad on a mission!

 

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