am i

an athlete?
in a conversation about upcomming events a friend had commented, wow ur becoming quite the athlete. excuse me uh are u looking at someone else, did we just meet? i had not considered this until just now.  all the training, all the work and personal investment, sacrafice, commitment, could it be true?

lets examine
i work out hard but not necessairly smart, so i have been told by other athletes. im way committed but in a fun way i wont blow off training but i will endulge a little, ok a lot, on weekends.  i do fair amount of researching technique and training regimine but i have no real coaching. im making consistent progress and see improvements in performance on all levels, confidence et al. im competetive maybe too competetive. wouldnt say im a good athlete lets go with getting better

performance
i have realized lately i quite enjoy the performance aspect of training/racing. to test my limits and measure how i perform when asked, will my strength and endurance deliver the desired results, or will i gas out and fail? its been an unreal feeling to be in open water and get the distance and speed i want, like the only limitation i have right now is time, to enter a half marathon, train for it, and complete it, to crush hills i once considered unrideable, to set the bar higher each time and reach that bar is an amazing feeling

athlete? maybe, having fun getting there, absolutly!