Believers

MUSINGS FROM A COACH - 23 DECEMBER '25

Life is busy enought without athletics in it and can often have little, if any, time for ourselves. When we add athletic routines to it, we are carving out a time dedicated to our physical and often mental wellbeing.

Of course, there’s wonderful byproducts from exercising consistently: physical self-awareness, purpose, mental clarity or focus and a sense of accomplishment that feels natural. We are meant to move!

The next step is to pick a goal, an event, that challenges us. It’s a motivational and accountability date that keeps us moving, even when we don’t feel quite motivited to. And as we build our process and continue towards that event, we encouter the ever-changing emotional highs and lows. Those highs are fun and empowering. But it’s the lows that we may have a harder time adjusting to. With time, we learn that this is the way of the universe - the ebb and flow, the “sine wave” of training regularly, and we learn that it’s OK and part of the process. 

While we logically understand this, we may still struggle with fear and doubt. Can we accamplish this big goal? The unknowns seem countless. Are we even cabable of doing this? And as experienced an athlete as many of us are, what often  pulls us back up is someone who believes in us. It may be a single person or a group of people. It may be a family member or fellow athletes at a gym. And it may be our coach. 

Regardless, having our own supporter(s) is all that we need when the going gets tough. Someone who believes in us like we believe in ourselves. So that night dark run, or that 2+ hour bike trainer ride, or that 3500 yard solo swim at 6am doesn’t seem so lonely.

We all have a believer, and we all need one. And maybe we can also become one ourselves...

Gratefully,

Mark

CEO Team MPI