It would be easier
By Alison Colavecchia
5.7.03 (www.slowtwitch.com)

It would be easier if I could just pull the covers over my head and go back to sleep yet still reap the benefits of an imagined workout. It would be easier if I could ignore the alarm clock, indeed not even set it and just get up when I wake up… and still get everything done by 8AM. Better yet it would be easier if I simply didn’t need to sleep or, failing that, if the days were longer.

It would be easier if I didn’t have to organize gear every time I planned to head out the door. It would be easier if it were all magically waiting in a pile at the door, clean, the right number and type of layers needed for the weather of the moment. It would be easier if I didn’t have to fumble in the dark for bits of this and that.

It would be easier if I didn’t have to make sure there was air in my tires every time I went out on my bike—if someone else took care of cleaning and maintaining it. It would be easier if someone would plan my routes and leave out the goodies I needed to eat and drink along the way. It would be easier if I didn’t have to coordinate meetings with training partners but then again maybe it would be easier if I had company all the time and didn’t ever have to head out alone.

It would be easier if everyone chained their dogs, cleaned up their broken glass, picked up construction crap. It would be easier if the roads were less busy with cars and the sidewalks less crowded with pedestrians. It would be easier if there was no development encroaching on what were once quiet country roads. It would be easier if there were no stop signs or traffic lights, train tracks or potholes. It would be easier if all drivers were courteous and responsible.

It would be easier if I didn’t have to leave my desk at lunch and drive to the pool. It would be easier if the pool was right next door, was warmer, and the lanes always empty. It would be easier if everyone knew the pool rules, if there were no waves and if others always moved aside as I approached. It would be easier if I didn’t have to re-stock all that stuff in my swimming bag.

It would be easier if I didn’t have to lug so much stuff out to the car each morning, easier if someone would clean up the crumbs left all over the inside of the car from my brown bag lunches eaten on the way back from the pool. It would be easier if someone packed my daily buffet of a lunch bag and left it at the ready as I left for work in the morning.

It would be easier if I were lighter, faster, smarter, more energetic, younger, not needed at work, not needed at home. It would be easier if I had no job, no family, and no friends to call back, no bills to pay, calls to return or mail to respond to. On the other hand, it would be easier if there was always someone at home to welcome me back from a tough workout, loved ones always at the finish line to say how proud they are, friends to share the journey, to laugh and cry with. It would be easier if crowds lined the roads and sidewalks cheering me on as though I were in a race and winning. It would be easier if everyone understood.

It would be easier if a mile were shorter, hills flatter and the currents in the water always helpful. It would be easier if it never snowed, rained, got too hot or too cold. It would be easier if there were always a tailwind, easier if putting one foot in front of the other weren’t so darn complicated and if pedaling circles and riding in a straight line came naturally.

It would be easier if equipment and race fees were less expensive, if I didn’t have to make choices and could have all the things I needed when I needed them.

It would be easier if I never got hungry, thirsty or had to go to the bathroom or if the paths and trails were scattered with port-a-potties. It would be easier if chips were less tasty and more nutritious or, better yet, if apples tasted and behaved more like chips. It would be easier if coffee was part of a food group.

It would be easier if the house were self-cleaning and the plants self-watering. It would be easier if working full time meant working a 25-hour week, if children loved doing homework and waking up early and if all my bosses were athletes. It would be easier if the cat could use the toilet.

Would it be?

What if easier meant it didn’t make me feel so alive and vital? If I felt slower instead of sharper at home and in my work? What if easier meant I didn’t get a glow of self-satisfaction after catching, out the corner of my eye, the number left blinking on my watch from the morning's run?

Would it still be easier if it meant the breeze blowing through my hair when I ran on a beautiful spring day didn’t feel so good? Easier if seeing cars with bikes on the roof, starting lines, race kit bags and marker buoys in the water didn’t set my heart to thumping a little faster? What if easier meant that being body marked, setting up my transition area and showing my OAT card weren’t such a thrill?

Would it be easier if finishing something I thought I'd never be able to complete didn’t feel so darn good? Easier if it didn’t teach my children, didn’t show other regular folks that they can too, didn’t keep me healthy? And what if getting to the top of bigger and bigger hills and seeing familiar faces mid-race weren’t so exciting?

Would it be easier if it wasn’t so much fun?

Still tri’n