Willy Wonka and Ironman Arizona

"We are the music makers...we are the dreamers of dreams..." Willy Wonka.

life may not be a rose garden but it is a chocolate factory, and in mr wonka's factory, the borders of joy and fear bleed together in an existential melee, creating an edge that activates and stimulates rather than pacifies the soul.

things are pretty much in the bucket for IMAZ; 3 weeks until race day, and this build has been a bit like willy's chocolate factory; secretive, eccentric with a hint of danger, yet efficacious in an oompa loompa kind've way.

"there is no life i know, to compare with pure imagination"

once again, as i pull closer to the actual day of another ironman, i appreciate, perhaps more deeply than ever, the fact that race day itself is a big thing, something to cherish and remember, but almost certain to contain more than bargained for and, that really, it is the synergy of my imagination and my desire to live in it, that truly drives me.

but sometimes we are just passengers on the rowboat of life: "there's no way of knowing which way they are rowing, or which way the river's flowing, is it raining or snowing, is there a hurricane a blowing?"

those who had the fewest expectations about what the chocolate factory would bring had the purest experience of what it had to offer. (even when things got unpleasant or scary) isn't this true about life? about ironman?

so, yes, i have time goals, i have an "M.O." in mind, i have reasons why and desires for what and when, but, at the end of the day, i hope i can be like charlie, open minded, aware, and present yet still able to use my imagination to sail through the day in the richest possible way.

and yes, when i am done, i may eat a lifetime of chocolate.

"charlie, don't forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he ever wanted...he lived happily ever after" W.W.