child Of the Day: Apasia
Sponsored by Christine and Rory McBroom and Tricia Pastor
Age 14
Ride to Date Scorecard:
Day: T-4 (launch date is May 23)
Location: Capitola California
Today’s Mileage: 0
Total Mileage: 0
Today’s Ascent: 0 feet
Today’s Time on the Bike: 0 hours
Total Time on the Bike: 0 hours
I’ve been critical of others if they seemed like they were chasing shiny pennies. In all humility, I’m admitting to my “ shiny penny.” But. But. But I have a reason!
I’ve been rewarded over the years for leaving my comfort zone: as a child, I knew that I sucked at baseball. I also knew that no one liked being the catcher with all the hot gear, the crouching, the “being thrown at.”
However, if I wanted to play, I had to be a catcher! In swimming, no one wanted to swim the quarter-mile race or, later, the mile. Since I wasn’t very fast, the only way I could legitimize my spot was to swim, which no one else would!
In my career, being of modest talent but with a big drive and large ambition, I sensed that taking risks, for example, being a supervisor at Texas Instruments’ only domestic assembly line or their groundbreaking (at the time) 4-inch fab”— would bring visibility and high risk and was my best option to earn more and have better opportunities! Hard assignments with big payouts.
Being in my comfort zone would be safer and easier and perhaps allow me to perfect my activity. I always sought to be unconstrained by perfection! Rather, I took the Ali mantra of “stick and move.” Never let perfection ruin good opportunities!
So for me, getting a graduate degree at night, endurance long-distance swimming, triathlon and specifically Ironman distances, endurance outrigger canoeing, and now riding across the “country for kids” follow naturally! It’s not for everybody. In many ways it stems from being entirely mediocre yet wishing to have a Mark Spitz, Bob Beamon, or Jim Ryun moment!
Being comfortable with Discomfort is my thing! Thank you for following along!
Meet the ETF child of the day: Apasia! Sponsored by Christine and Rory McBroom and Tricia Pastor. Apasia graduates this year from Green Valley School and will enter Scolastica secondary school next year. She is 14 years old, and like so many Tanzanians, when you look into her eyes, you see straight to her heart. She is fascinated with hair and plays hair salon when ladies visit her! Tricia’s blonde and Christine’s straight hair fascinate her. She smiles generously and loves freely!
