I want it bad

Coming off the Sailing World Cup Miami, I have more energy than ever before. More determination, more drive, more willingness to put my body through the physical suffering of training: whatever it is going to take to get myself to the top level. None of these areas had a specific deficiency before, but, now more than ever, there is this burning fire inside of me; a passion, a desire to do more, to get better and to become the best. I finished the regatta in 77th of 98 competitors. The result itself is in the ballpark of what I came into the regatta expecting. This was most definitely the strongest fleet I have ever had the opportunity to compete in and I am still relatively early in my development. Still, regardless of how you look at it, I got beat by 76 people and I don’t like that.  There are a couple of different influencers from this past week that have caused me to develop this newfound level of determination. Firstly, as I said above, I’m just tired of always loosing. Secondly, although I finished most of the races near the back, I wasn’t at the back for the whole race. In fact, I would say that in about half of the races, I was in the top 10 – 15 at the first mark rounding. I would then make a mistake at some point during the race and get passed by most of the fleet. It was such a tease. Time after time, I would find my way to the front group and then have to watch it slip away. It’s a pretty terrible feeling and not one that I want to have to keep on experiencing. Thirdly, I found out that Matt Wearn (currently ranked #2 in the world) is 20 year old. Although that may seem like a trivial piece of information, to me, it is actually quite meaningful. I have always said that my goal is to win a gold medal at the 2020 Olympics (when I would be 23). Most people believe that it would be impossible for me to get that good that quick. Sure, Matt Wearn may be more naturally talented than I am, but this shows that it IS possible.

At the end of the day, these are just words, it doesn’t have much meaning unless it is accompanied by actions, and that is where I am focusing my energy. The training schedule is packed (I’m going to be home 8 days in the next 17 weeks) and I am approaching the coming training with more energy and drive than ever before.

Thanks for reading and to everyone for their support.

Fillah