Canadian Lawyer 4Students

Spring 2010

Life skills and career tips for Canada's lawyers in training

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BY DAVID SAMUEL you into nausea when you commit. And I want to know if you are ready to begin. Here was mine — and you're en- I ironman Hammered into an 'm not interested in your job, your income, or your words. I want to know if you can set a goal that scares couraged to plagiarize this goal: swim 3.8 kilometres, bike 180km, then run 42.2km. Fast. Th at was my goal, and I did it. It is the Ironman Triathlon, and I would rather fi nish another one than win a million dollars in the lottery. I don't buy excuses. It's easy to scour your life for reasons not to be your abso- lute best possible self. And it's not hard. Law school comes with its own built-in excuses: you're excelling just by being there, you want awesome marks to get the job you want, the workload is hell. I know the workload is hell. I too have survived those hundreds of hours in the library during exam time, emerg- ing aſt erwards with mole-pink skin that starts smoking when sunlight hits it. Law school is mind-bendingly stressful. No one will think you're a silly monkey if you slack in some life areas. So OK. Sure. But that's not good enough. In July 2008, my fellow law student (at the University of Ottawa), and fu- ture best man, Ernesto Caceres and I made a pact to: actually and irretrievably and for once and for all and forever and for good fi ght the drifting that we see every day Our pact was in the form of register- ing for Ironman Lake Placid together. We trained for a year. We didn't go too nuts, but we did go nuts. We trained about 15 hours a week. Getting up early, oſt en under the weather from the law school pub night/pub crawl/Saturday. Cycling on a spinning bike for hours before our usual wake-up time. In one word: suff ering. Th en race day came. Have you ever had a day besides getting married or having kids where every moment meant something to you? We have. And it took everything to get through it. To really experience it, you have to do it. So I can't tell you much, but I'll try anyway: Ernesto and I are standing side by side in the water waiting to start. Th is is the beginning of emptying every- one's fuel tank. Although there are over 2,000 athletes, there is almost silence. Aſt er all, what is leſt to be said? Th ere is only doing leſt . You know that what happens out there will defi ne who you are. An irresistible allure brings you to this moment. Th en the cannon fi res. Th e swim is organized chaos. Th e bike is a sword fi ght between your legs and your heart. Th e run is spent trying to catch your soul because it's trying to escape from your body. Th e course is where regu- lar people are hammered into Ironmen. Even if you've done one before, you're unaware of what scraping the bottom of your soul is going to feel like that day. Th en suddenly — you are very aware. You don't have the energy to swear. You don't even have the energy to tell yourself to continue. All thought only generates 1,000 rea- sons to stop. But one reason to continue. Th en you fi nish, and learn a whole lot about life. Th e magic of Ironman starts at the fi nish. Th e fi nisher's chute is a transcendent place where people convert tragedy into tears of joy. My fi n- ishing moment told me that David Samuel can train for an Ironman during law school and still get the job he truly desired (with a best friend). But when someone with no legs fi nishes, it means anyone can do anything. It's so rare to see someone's expression during one of the best moments of his or her life. But at the fi nish line, it happens every minute. Athletes keep fi nishing, and dreams keep coming true. You see in their face what they had to sacrifi ce to get there, and what it meant to them. I used to be the fat kid. Sometimes, I fi nd mo- tivation in someone telling me "you can't," and me saying "I can." I am no longer the fat kid. And no one tells me I can't. Th ose last few kilometres are an intense personal experience. When it's over, you feel like a diff erent person. And in one day, you've become one. n David Samuel is completing his third year at the University of Saskatchewan while training to qualify for the Ironman World Championships. STUDENT'S PAGE PHOTOS COURTESY OF ASIPHOTO.COM

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