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Written by Brian Olsen
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Sunday, 16 October 2005 00:00 |
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Location: Fort Kent, ME
So far, the season has been going very well. Much better than I expected when I was faced with a mighty challenge in April. In the spring, I went out on my own and decided to face all the obstacles of being an athlete without a team or traditional coach. With the U.S. Biathlon Association unable to support athletes financially (or otherwise), that meant finding sponsors and cutting back on my expenses. This, all in a very pivotal season of my career, the grand good possibility of competing at my first Olympic Games. But I've been able to do more than had hoped because I persevered and just told myself that nothing is impossible, that I can always find a way.
Sure, I have had some great results in my career already. A fourteenth and twenty-second at Junior World Championships two seasons ago. A few Youth & Junior National Titles. Two ninety percent shooting races. But all of that is history. I have long since crossed the finish line in those races – as well as in the ones that didn’t go so well.
But this challenge was a much bigger one, much more challenging than any biathlon race. For the most part, I have had to rely upon myself for nearly everything, even when things aren’t going as planned. I really credit the year that I spent living in Norway with teaching me the skills and mentality of “finding a way.” Without that will, I wouldn’t be here, still training, today.
Whereas other athletes have coaches and staff to book and arrange their travel, I am now doing this all on my own. Because it is at my own expense, though, I of course have every incentive to minimize those costs and stretch every dollar to the penny. Thankfully, some very gracious families have come to my aid and helped me erase one large cost – lodging. When I realized that I didn’t have the financial resources to do all of the things that my competitors are doing, I had to find a way. And I did.
Splitting my time between Maine and Utah this summer and fall, a distance of more than 2000 miles, meant that I would have to leave my truck in one place, and find another one in the other. But there is no better way to get “free” training, minimize costs, and reduce one’s impact on the environment than to skip the car and jump on a bike. So every day, sometimes twice per day, I rode my bike to and from training in Utah. That was thirty minutes each way. My legs have never felt stronger. That wouldn’t have happened had I been there with a team.
And last spring, when I realized that I needed a new stock for my rifle (that’s the piece of wood that the barrel and action attach to) and didn’t have the money to buy one, I decided to make my own. Six months later, I am confident that I couldn’t find a better stock than the one that I designed, carved, and painted myself. I found a way.
Now I cannot imagine doing this journey relying entirely on other people to do things for me. Since I am spending a decade of my life on this athletic quest, it might as well be challenging. It would be such a waste if I didn’t learn anything. So though I might have had to bushwhack around trying to find it, I really do prefer my own way to someone else’s.
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