This past weekend I participated with my husband and some friends in the Hawk-I-Tri, a sprint triathlon in Lansing, MI. This is my 3rd triathlon. The other two that I've done were a sprint and an olympic distance in the Chicago triathlon. The difference in scale between the Chicago and the Hawk-I was pretty stark. There are nearly 8,000 participants each year in Chicago and there were around 630 participants in the Hawk-I. The Chicago is quite an experience. You swim in the marina, bike on Lake Shore Dr. and run in the grounds surrounding the aquarium, ending in Grant Park. It's kind of exciting to be part of something that big.
So when we signed up for this triathlon, I didn't really know what to expect. I might have had a little bit of an elitest mentality going into it because it "couldn't be as good of a triathlon as the big Chicago one." I also hadn't trained as well for this one as I have for my previous two. It definitely wasn't as organized as the Chicago but for a small local triathlon it was very well organized. They had a number of resources for beginners and the course was well-marked. And honestly, I had my best race. I wasn't nervous. I was able to push myself but I never felt like I was dying. I think part of that is just mental. I know I can do it, I've done a much longer distance than this before. But I think part of it was the scale. It wasn't as intimidating so I was more comfortable and I saw all of my friends/family during the race which definitely gave me a boost.
I find that it's easy for me to think that if I'm not doing something on a big scale, then its not worth doing. But sometimes its the small organizations or just one person who can have a profound impact on people because what they do can be personal. Sometimes in the middle of a tough project we tell ourselves that "it's not personal, it's just business." But really it is personal. Business has to be personal. It might cost me $.25 more but I like going to the Zingerman's Roadshow because I get good service there and they're friendly. We might not necessarily know each other's names, but I feel like I have a relationship with them. We're coming up on our 25th anniversary here at MOVE and we've been reflecting a little on our history. We're fortunate to still have relationships with some of those people who were around almost 25 years ago. We're a small company but as we reflect, we've found that we have been able to accomplish a lot because we have invested in relationships. And as I reflect on my race, I think that there were a lot of people who were able to participate in it and feel confident because it was an approachable size and it felt personal.