Why?

Today Victor leaves Colorado.

What’s that? You didn’t even know my coach, Victor Plata, was in Colorado? You say I haven’t written a blog in two weeks? Well, my coach being here and my lack of blogging are highly related, though certainly there were other factors. Like how I am applying to University of Colorado at Colorado Springs for an MBA program, so the majority of my writing energy had to go toward the completion of a statement of purpose. Now, I write about myself a lot – and I’ve received a number of compliments on my ability to do so – yet somehow I find it more challenging to write a statement of purpose than any other form of writing. I’ll bang out a five paragraph essay or a fictional story any day, but ask me why I want to do something and my brain turns to mush. It’s as though writing why I am so passionate about something inevitably distills out some of the emotion behind a dream. Why do I want so badly to be an Olympian? What drives me to wake up early, and put myself through the maximal amount of physical exertion that I can handle? Why do I race for triathlon’s ephemeral podium instead of putting an equal amount of effort toward the greater good of society? Am I any different than the obsessed video game player who uses time practiced talents to escape the realities of life into a virtual reality where the rewards are both intangible and without greater meaning?

These questions bounce through my head so frequently that they’ve developed an emotional backing that makes the answers oblique and difficult for me to qualify. I simply know that I’m doing what’s right for me at this time in my life, and that being a professional triathlete makes me happy. I’m grabbing hold of a dream.

Here’s the poem I wrote for my statement of purpose. It may not be exactly what the admissions committee is looking for, but it will certainly stand out.

Before I raced a bike or ran a mile,
my Ears were wet with chemical vile.
I swam and Swam through my youth and beyond,
but I was meant for far more than the pond.