Kate O’Neill:
Personal Fulfillment
(Elite Athlete Blog Entry 11)
Posted June 23rd, 2008 at 7:58 PM by Kate O'Neill
Section: News & Results, Marathons, Motivation, Track & Field, Olympics, Elite Athlete Blogs, Kate O'Neill
Hi, this is my blog in TFS’s Elite Athlete Blog Series. Bookmark kateoneill.thefinalsprint.com and check back every other Monday for my latest entry as I strive for the 2008 Summer Olympics!
With the Olympics fast approaching, I have been spending more time than usual thinking about goals. Ever since the Chicago Marathon, I had been chasing the goal of making the US Olympic Marathon team. When that did not work out, I was miserable, but quickly made new goals. I had to remind myself that being part of the US Olympic team was not the only reward of accomplishing my goals. The feeling of personal fulfillment was my prime motivation and that was something that I could still chase after.
For some people, personal fulfillment comes from very different accomplishments. After my long run this morning, I lounged on the couch for a while and watched the MTV show “Made” with one of my roommates. I had never seen the show before today. For those of you who are not familiar with it, the series profiles teenagers who want to be “made” into something more glamorous such as singers, athletes, or dancers. To guide them in the process, they are given a coach who is an expert in their chosen field. On this particular episode, a girl named Dyanna wanted to win her high school’s beauty pageant.
When the show starts Dyanna is the ultimate tomboy. She never dresses up; her typical outfit is sweat pants paired with a T-shirt. Rather than perfume or deodorant, she sprays herself with air freshener. Her manners are not what most people would consider “ladylike”; she burps and spits constantly. Her “Made Coach” has coached past contestants at Miss USA, Miss America, and Miss Universe. He tries to improve her manners, posture, and sense of fashion. He wants her to only be around “prettiness” so he completely changes the décor of her bedroom. In the past, most of her energy outside of school was devoted to basketball. She has been successful in this sport, but now she has to find a new talent – one that is appropriate for a beauty pageant. For most of the show I felt annoyed and disgusted, but those feelings dissipated toward the end. She seemed genuinely happy and relieved with the changes she had made to herself. The show of course did not make a longitudinal study of her life after these changes to show if she remained happy, but for that one hour she had reached a sense of personal fulfillment.
Beauty pageant titles have never been something I sought, so the plight of W. Hodding Carter was something I had more in common with. He has been getting some press in the build up to the Summer Olympics. At the age of 45, he has been trying to qualify for the 2008 Olympic swim team in the 100 meter and 200 meter freestyle events.
He was a Division III All-American over 20 years ago and he has actually improved upon his times in his quest to make the team, but he is seconds off the personal bests of the best in the country. He has defeated the forces of nature that make most human bodies slow over time, but that victory will not be enough to make the team. All the energy that has put into making the team might seem like a waste, but when I heard him being interviewed on the radio, he certainly was not wallowing in self-pity. Instead, he talked about how swimming had always helped him through the most difficult times in his life. When he took up this latest challenge, his marriage was on the rocks and experiencing financial difficulties. Swimming had somehow brought him through these challenges.
To bring this back to my experiences, I look at these two seemingly disparate stories and see a common theme with my experiences. While we are not pursuing the same aims by being a beauty queen in high school or being a great masters swimmer, I share in their common human struggle to find purpose in what I do and to adapt to new challenges. While I certainly would like to compete at the Olympics in 2008, I am faced with the reality that this is not my path and am moving forward to new challenges in my running and life.
- Kate
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Tags: chicago marathon, elite athlete, elite athlete blog series, elite runner, kate oneil, kate oneill, kate oneill blog, marathon, motivation, olympic hopeful, Olympic Trials, personal fulfillment, tfs elite athlete blog series, the final sprint elite athlete blog series, thefinalsprint.com elite athlete blog series, track and field, U.S. Olympic Marathon Team, u.s. olympic womens marathon trials
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