Where’s you limit? At what point do you say, I am never doing that. That’s just plain crazy. Is it sky diving? How about bungee jumping? Eating octopus? Going back to school? Running a marathon? Playing high stakes poker? Climbing a mountain? Quitting your job? Roller coasters? A triathlon? The list goes on and on.
We have teammates that do some arguably crazy things. Amanda Dean and her husband Bill compete in adventure races. Canoeing, mountain biking, and trail-running meet orienteering in the ultimate outdoor adventure. Sounds cool you say? It is until you realize that a short race is 6 hours. These races can last 12 or 24 or 72 hours. That’s right, 3 days! Is that crazy?
Christine Haskins loves a different kind of adventure
wherever she can find it. A world
traveler, I think there is a club she joined with the motto, “I will try
anything once.” I can’t tell you the
number of times I have watched her sit down at a bar or a restaurant, strike up
a conversation with the server and tell them, “Bring me your best thing.” She has eaten things that I am not sure are
food, but all turn out to be so delicious.
She has even drunk things that were on fire! Is that crazy?
My friends aren’t even all that extreme. Whatever crazy you
can imagine, there is so much more. Flip
through cable and you’ll see people doing anything and everything. There are folks that live in a house with cameras
everywhere. Others run obstacle courses
through foam and paint balls. A brave
few do stunts in the dark or are yelled at while trying to become a chef. People eat glass or bugs, sing or dance for
millions, do stand-up comedy until they are booed, or compete to stack
cups. The list goes on and on and there
seems to be endless volunteers. The real question is, why? Why do people do crazy things?
Some probably do it for money. Others like the attention. But in the end, there is one thing they all
have in common. They feel alive. For those crazy minutes their hearts beat faster,
their focus narrows to the here and now, and they are quite sure that
everything they are and know is on the line.
Adrenaline and endorphins pump through the veins. It is excitement and pleasure and fun. Crazy makes you feel perfectly, awesomely,
completely alive.
This weekend five members of the triBE headed out to the
Lake Nona distance ride. 50 or 100 miles
on a bicycle. Hours and hours in the saddle.
These few hearty souls today are awesomely, breathlessly, perfectly
alive. And in my humble opinion, slightly,
wonderfully crazy. Congratulations to
Dawn Young, Angela Thomas, Rose Ray, and Julie Jaworski. And a special shout out the Marie Leticee who
beat the odds, overcame her injuries, and finished this race! Wow.
Just wow.
So it’s your turn.
You get to decide what it means to be crazy. Think about the last thing you said you would
never do. What if you did?
Wanna go crazy?
"The statistics on sanity are that one out of
every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of
your three best friends. If they are okay, then it's you." ~Rita Mae Brown
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