Lance to Lead !!

I just want to say..

Small things can make great differences in our life. 

From a quote you read somewhere to a friendly hug, little things can inspire us each day, if you let it. Today I want to introduce you to a gentleman - Lance Armstrong. I read his Autobiography, It's not about the bike - My journey back to life. The little things that inspired me, through his autobiography are something which I feel is worth sharing. What he has overcome and has achieved is nothing close to being small.....but the changes through which he himself has gone through, has all happened in baby steps. If you want to achieve something in life, know that they are the little things, the tiny changes that occur within you, which will dart you forward. Life is not a hit song, but it is a series of boring, fun, and tragic episodes. How you want to end your story, is your choice.

This post - errhmm - is ALL about Lance. Whatever I have felt, the things which has made tiny but tremendous changes in me, and in my friends, are shared here.

Lance Armstrong is a world class cyclist. Mind you, world class. How he ended up there was not by having a great coach, or big money, or any great incentives except his own self motivation and never ending support from his mother Linda Armstrong. Oh, what miracles love can do! Be it self love, or love from a woman.

Lance's early life was filled with financial struggles, along with a great desire to prove his worth. When life pushes you down, it is not without double the power that you rise. Now, Triatheletes are those who compete in the Triathelon which I consider to be the toughest athletic sport. It is a combination of swimming, cycling and running. Lance is said to have struggled quite a bit to get through Triathlon competitions, not in the action of the sport, but rather to gain confidence from seniors of the field to think of him as fit enough to compete at 12 years of age! He went from being a Triathelete winner at the age of 12 (Wow!) to a World renowned cycling champion winning the Tour de France (His first) at a bare 22 years of age - being the youngest road racing champion in the world.

So, what's really great about this guy? He is a Testicular cancer survivor. It is the King of all cancers that you know. Here is an excerpt from the book,

"As he battled against the cancer invading his body and the chemotherapy that threatened to sap his soul, he focussed on his training and drew strength from the people around him who never gave up. Just sixteen months after Armstrong was discharged from hospital, he entered the Tour de France, a race famed for its gruelling intensity, and won, in the fastest ever time. Just a few months after that, he became a father"

That's Lance for you.

Although it has not been the same Lance ever, he has been the sloppy, fat and completely broken individual during and after the course of his cancer as well. When cancer hits you, it hits you hard.  He has crossed the highest peak of pain both physically and mentally. Cancer tests you in all ways. It kills you once it is done testing you. Doctors told him that he had a 40% percent chance of survival, but later, they admitted that 40% actually was meant to be around 5% chance, and that is not a lot. He did seem like from a failing team losing all his hair and weight due to Chemotherapy (for cancer), and that's when he lost his professional contracts too. His career started to fail him. Along with his medical insurance. He was close to broke. 

How he came out from all this, how he 'survived', how he achieved, are not miracles. They are all born out of pure pain, that either kills you or makes you stronger.

I now intend to write few excerpts from the book, here goes -

"I want to die at a hundred years old with an American flag on my back and the star of Texas on my helmet, after screaming down an Alpine descent on a bicycle at 75 miles per hour. I want to cross one lasst finish line as my stud wife and my ten children applaud, and then I want to lie down in a field and gracefully expire, the perfect contradiction to my once-anticipated poignant early demise"

That's how you dream.

There's something else about Lance. His mother. He was born to Linda Armstrong, when she was just 17. She has supported him and made him come up in life, through her own efforts. She never quit, she had humble beginnings. She worked as a Secretary where she was underestimated, and her son asked her,
"Why don't you just quit?"
"Son, you never quit." was her response.

Lance competed in a gruelling cycling race, his first professional race - Classico San Sebastian - and came last.
"The day of my debut, it rained so hard it hurt. I slipped farther and farther behind, shivering and struggling to pedal. Soon, I was in the last place. Ahead of me riders began to give up, abandon the race. I was tempted to do the same. It would be so easy. But I couldn't, what would my teammates think? I wasn't a quitter."

"Why don't you just quit?"
"Son, you never quit."

In his book he mentions, once you are through terrible pain in life, you are never the same person again.

Winning is not just about the moment, it is a series of things that keep happening when you decide not to quit. Believe me, without those negative people in your life, you would never ever have the thought about changing the way you live, or have a burning desire to succeed. Lance has told in the book that, he does not cycle because he loves to do it. The intensity of pain that comes from cycling in races is not deserving of love. What made him ride is the - pain. He wanted the pain. Pain which deserves an awesome victory, which has exuded from his cancer survival as well.

I still have lot to say, lot to share, but I end here. Cuz when you reach that book - Its not about the bike My journey back to life, I can bet that you comment "Is that all you have got to say about him?" Make your own interpretations about this winner.

And let me know.

Before leaving, if you have really come this far reading this (very interesting) blog post, click on these:

Courtesy:
Its not about the bike My journey back to life (Autobiography of Lance Armstrong)
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/magazine/issues/summer06/articles/summer06pg6-9.html
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/lancearmstrongtimeline.html
http://www.letour.fr/2012/TDF/HISTO/us/palmares.html

Make sure your eyes don't pop out.