This Saturday will mark the cumulation of a personal project I've been working on for a while. I'll be competing in a sprint triathlon, the Tri-Carson to be exact. It's not very long with a 5k run, 12 mile bike ride, and 200m swim.

Getting here has taken a while, going back to January 2009 when I went out on my first bike ride with Michele, launching my current cycling obsession. I was quite content to cycle until I went to Michele's first triathlon and participated with the Disney Tri Team on a relay team. After seeing others do this, I wanted to do it myself. I knew it would take some effort to be able to do it. I hadn't run seriously in decades and had never done lap swimming. Further in November 2009, they cut my left shoulder open to repair my rotator cuff (injured on a winery bike tour :p ).

I didn't get to running until July when I started to run on a regular basis. Even now, I've only run about 60 miles until today. Let me be clear, compared to cycling which I delight in doing, running is chore. It's hard on the knees, slow, and lacks the opportunity for excessive gadget geekery.

As far as swimming, I only started on the first of this month. Being taught to swim seriously as an adult is very different than pool/ocean safety swimming instruction you get as a kid. The science of swimming is much more advanced than I would have imagined. I have to say that swimming is much better than running. I'm most nervous about this part of the triathlon, but I'm ready for the short 200m swim

This morning, I did my last run/swim workout and am ready to rest for a day so gather energy for Saturday. I'm excited and nervous to see what happens, which doesn't happen often to guys like me in their 40s.

What's cool about this is that it's just for me. This isn't for anyone else. It's not for work, friends, or family that I wake up at 4:30 to eat oatmeal and prepare to workout. I wanted to do this for myself and I stuck with it through the training. Too often these days people measure their success by how other people respond to what they have done. "Did people retweet my tweet?" "How many hits did my post get?" "Did they buy my creation?"

In this personal project, the only person I am trying to make happy is myself. I think I need to do more things like this, rather than looking for validation from the outside. As the Dalai Lama says “Spend some time alone every day.” In today's hyper-connected world, being alone and focused on your personal growth is something you need to work hard to do.

Good luck in your own personal projects.