This was the email exchange between my friend Mike Wien and myself this past weekend.

Friday night:

Paul: Are you and Nannette available for dinner with Diana and I Sunday evening?

Mike:  Just landed in Seattle. Back late Sunday night. 10k team nationals tomorrow.

Paul: How come I never get a message from you saying “Hi Paul, I’m in Kroger’s buying eggs and milk.”?  ;-)  I love it Mike!  Best wishes for success.

Saturday morning:

Mike: Hi Paul, I am sitting in my hotel room working on a report for a client and waiting for the sun to come up.   I have to leave in a minute and see if I can find a banana and some Gatorade.

Saturday evening:

Mike: To my family, closest friends and training buddies,

First, let me provide some perspective.  I wrote the following e-mail to Jack Spartz, my training buddy, yesterday afternoon as I was flying  to the National 10K Cross Country Team Championship in Seattle as part of the Atlanta Track Club Masters team.

Jack  -  I am on the plane to Seattle and here is my pre-race thinking.   I know I am ranked number four out of five on our 60+ ,masters team.  I am thinking that I need to stay with my top 3 teammates tomorrow to form a pack and push each other. Only the top three score points. That is realistic.  My dream goal tomorrow is to try to out run all three and lead the team to a championship.  May not be realistic, but most of my dreams are not realistic (that’s what makes them dreams.)…and actually being able to live an unrealistic dream is the best.

Mike

So here is what happened.   In the team championship, each team is given a starting box, one person wide.  We lined up in our order and the gun when off.  Jerry Learned (1) took the lead among our team with Kirk Larson (2) right behind him.   I quickly passed Bill Moore (3) and Jerry, Kirk and I ran together in that order for the first three miles. After three miles, I passed Kirk who stayed right behind me as I tailed Jerry.  At 4 miles , I passed Jerry and took the lead for our team.  The next two miles, I heard spectators yell, “Go Mike, Go Jerry, Go Kirk”, all in one breath.  I knew we were still all together pushing each other to go faster.   At 5 ½ I caught two other 60 + runners, Bill Dixon from Massachusetts and Keith Woodson from Vermont .  We all had to wear an age group identifier on our backs so I knew they were competitors.  I passed Keith and then Bill, who saw my age and picked up the pace and passed me back.

As we approached 6 miles, Keith made a break and passed me and moved to pass Bill.  I went with Keith and we both passed Bill.   Bill responded with 100 yards to go and accelerated past both of us to take third place.   I took fourth and Bill took fifth, Kirk took sixth and Jerry took seventh.   (I knew I gave it everything at the end, when I threw-up shortly after crossing the finish line.)  Our 4th, 6th and 7th place finish was good enough to win the national championship, a nice metal, a free beer coupon at the party, a beautiful team trophy and a USA Track & Field National Champion patch for my warm-up suit.

It was a great day and a great team effort for the Atlanta Track Club.   And for the third time since I turned 60 nine weeks ago, I got to live another dream.   Tonight I am feeling so lucky to have such a wonderful support group and so many training buddies that have help me make the last nine weeks be so special.

Thank you!

Monday morning:

Paul:  No, thank you Mike.  Thank you for showing me by your thoughts and actions that we can live our dreams–no matter how unrealistic. As I often tell my athletes, students and clients, it is from dreams that we shape our reality.  Our greatest satisfaction comes in making dreams real.  Viva dreams and the courage to live them!  Congratulations on winning the National Championship Mike!  Congratulations on living your dreams!  So, are you Nannette available for dinner this Sunday?

Monday afternoon:

Mike:  Nannette and I would love to join you on Sunday night.

About the Author – Paul G. Schempp

Dr. Schempp, president of Performance Matters, Inc., is a professional speaker, coach and consultant. Paul has more than 25 years of experience in the fields of research, teaching and professional development. Individuals and organizations in business, education and sport have elevated their expertise and achieved exceptional performance by working with Dr. Schempp.