Be Stupid*. Be Foolish. Act a Fool!
Run with me for a minute. (This is that point in the post where EmSauce and Payne usually pull the e-break and wonder whose genius idea it was to hand me the keys…but buckle up for this jaunt.)
Think back to your FIRST day. Your first day training with us, your first morning at the stadium, your first time driving or your very first run. The first day you did anything for the first time. That day might be today, or it might be a few years back now at this point. You show up, nervous, anxious, hopefully excited and probably a little afraid. You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into. Now think back to being a child (again — for some this might be today and for others a few years back) we faced the world head on with a sense of foolishness. We didn’t limit ourselves, we didn’t label ourselves – we had no extremes, no boundaries; we didn’t think twice before diving head first. We just DID it. We were foolish, we were probably ‘stupid’ – but there’s something powerful in that. Doing things from our heart and not letting our mind or reason get in the way.
Somewhere between the exhaustion, the ‘FREEDOM’ battle cries, the beats by the one and only DJ Pheonix, I heard people meeting and saying, “Thanks for that push”, “I PR’d by over 3 MINUTES!”, “I was just trying to hang on.” Everyone raced hard today and for that we’re proud. A lot of people PR’d today and by that we’re blown away. What was even more shocking was people PR’d by minutes, damn straight…fucking MINUTES! Once you get into a weekly rhythm at the stadium it’s easy to say “I’m a 35-minute-full tour dude” or “I’ll never be able to break 30 min” and then you automatically limit yourself.
Well I want you to be stupid about these barriers. “I know you can, do what you wanna do. If you work hard at it, you’ll be where you wanna be.” I genuinely believe that you are all capable of so much more than you give yourself credit for. When you showed up to the stadium that first time, you were ignorant about numbers, times, paces. You had no idea who the fast cats were, who was your ‘pace’ gang, who to chase or who to get jiggy with (race – I’m talking who to race with). These are all things you’ve figured out and set along the way.
Today I was reminded of my first days – looking up to racers like Evan, Deniz, Bojan, BG and the Gilroys of the group. I was definitely racing ‘stupid’ thinking I could try and catch them, not knowing any better. Have I caught up to them 3 years later? Not yet, but do I go out every time trying to get closer week by week? Absolutely. I’m getting faster and stronger by racing stupid and one day I’ll catch them. (This is absolutely what they call a blatant dose of shit talkin’ for this upcoming weekend at #ECSNY where Foiles and I are gonna try and take down Adamietz and Evan…game on!)
Whether it’s PR day at the stadium or any other workout or race – the next time someone you think is out-of-your-league** challenges you, asks you to join them for a run or partner-up, just do it. Be stupid. Be instinctive. Be foolish. Lead with your heart. You’ll surprise yourself by what you’re capable of.
Wisconsin Notes: (Some people are confused by this term — no we’re not moving our workouts to the cheese state, we’re just briefly recapping this epic day.)
-The entire 5:30AM group PR’d today. Seriously it was nuts. We’ll be testing y’all next week for performance enhancers.
-The 6:30AM group brought their A-Game. They were fast, they were loud, and they created a finisher tunnel on the stairs. To say I loved this would be a severe understatement.
-DJ Pheonix laid down the beat, the paint crew laid out some grassroots gear. We appreciate all you guys do for us!
We’ll see you all Friday for some hill repeats. 6:29am. Corey Hill Outlook.
Much Love,
– Capoze
*Definitely need to start with a clarification: Be smart-stupid. Set stupid goals but train smart.
**This also works as dating advice. You’re welcome.
Share via socials:
