Lance Armstrong has just won the Tour de France for the fifth time. He has really struggled this year, and won by a minute or so, which is not very much of a margin in the scheme of things. And he plans to be back next year and to win it by a greater margin. This win was "not satisfactory".
And I wonder why? Why or what is driving him to want to keep coming back and winning this race? What is the motivation? He has won it, proved all the people that thought he was ruined by cancer wrong. Proved it wasn't a fluke. I mean, it seems really wierd and foreign to me to want to keep going back and putting himself through all this training, pain and so on. I don't understand. Maybe he is mad.
Then I remembered I am doing a PhD. I keep paying out vast sums of money so I can put myself through having a limited family life, and very little leisure. I stress myself, and am trying to do one and a half full time jobs. I make Lance Armstrong look like a balanced normal person, with a clear and well defined career path. Really, I am probably doing as much as him, only with my brain, not my body. It must be very mysterious to some people.
Reguarly now, I spend time thinking about how I am going to spend my time when this is over. Instead of depressing me it is motivating. And besides, I sent my last lot of stats off to the stats guru, and he has sent it back tonight saying what I did was right. Fan-bloody-tastic. Now I can finish off the chapter on hybrid seedling survival. Maybe I ain't so dumb at this stats thing.
Posted by Toni at July 29, 2003 08:51 PMIn Lance's case I think it much more than 'because it is fun.' Obsession comes to mind... but that is perhaps too blunt a word and narrow in thought. Whatever is motivating him it is beyond glory or success or money? Lance also hinted many times throughout the Tour that this year (the Tour included) much has happened, much of it bad or problematic and that this win has been in ways a reward (payback) for these misfortunes. PhD! I take my hat-off as I struggle to complete a Masters. Do I do it because it is fun? Some days I say yes, others I say no and sadly it all seems to hinge on my daily workload pressures. If only I didn’t have to go to bed and sleep – another 12 or so hours a day I could really use productively to "Knock the bastard off."
Posted by: Erik at July 29, 2003 11:30 PM