Day 85

As I was riding into Mesa…just miles away from my final destination, I began peddling harder than I ever had before, going faster than I have ever gone, even more so than when I was going down steep hills. I could taste the end.

I’ve never been happier in my life than when I got off the bike for the last time. I was blasting music from my iPhone. I had goose bumps every where. I’ve never been filled with such an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. I finally accomplished something epic in my life and it feels damn good. Days later, as I’m writing this, it still brings a grin to my face 🙂

For those of you that have followed any or all of my journey thus far, you know it wasn’t easy for me. There were countless times I wanted to quit…exhaustion…demoralized…weather…break downs….the list could go on and on and on. I had every justifiable reason to end it at any point. But I didn’t. I’m still trying to figure out in my head an original way to express as to what pushed me through. In the mean time I’ll use a quote I saw during the tour that I feel does the situation justice.

“You can quit if you want, and no one will care. But you will know for the rest of your life.” – John Collins, IRONMAN Co-Founder

I didn’t want to know that, for the rest of my life, I ventured out into the world to make something of myself…to accomplish something by myself…and I quit. Quitting to me is worse than failure. At least in failure you have the internal fortitude to start…to take a risk…to want to have more than what you currently have. Failure brings about lessons. During my tour there were many lessons, some of which I’ll go into later. But quitting…there is no lessons held within…the only thing left is regret…wondering what if. I’ve had way too many “what if’s” in my life to tolerate another one.

Felipe Negron died during this journey. The Felipe Negron that; lied to himself; lied to others; was too afraid to succeed; was weak; was insecure; didn’t listen to his gut; quits when adversity strikes; was a failure…that Felipe Negron is dead…never to be seen again.

As with death, there is birth. I find it ironic I’m currently staying near Phoenix, AZ. The story of the Phoenix in mythology is that a Phoenix obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor. I too, will arise from the ashes of my journey, reborn into a better version of my former self.