Invincible Summer
My course of study in college had no real utilitarian use 50 years ago. In an age of optimization for income or prestige, it is even less useful today. I wanted to be Socrates or Plato when I grew up, so philosophy seemed like the way to go. My poor parents might have had secret reservations, but they kept their doubts to themselves. The English part of my double major has been a bit more useful, but alas, I’ve forgotten much of what I learned. I’ve felt compelled to apologize to my parents in my heart many times for this apparent misuse of their hard-earned tuition money. There is a reason people who study other more sensible, more lucrative, impressive, useful and “real” disciplines make fun of English and philosophy majors. It’s just so easy, who can blame them?
I had no way of knowing all those decades ago that my love of words, ideas, and thinking about thinking would become very useful in my running life. Philosophy wasn’t useless after all. I just needed the right context. I hadn’t run for very long before I realized that most every runner I met was a philosopher of sorts, an Asics-wearing armchair quarterback for thinking big thoughts. I devoured every word written by Dr. George Sheehan, M.D., Runner’s World’s most prolific columnist and author of enormously popular books on how to run and the existential reasons why we run. If you lean toward being what my mom called a “deep thinker,” there is no better sport and no better running writer than Dr. Sheehan.
The 2026 edition of the Tri-Nebraska Triathlon provided the perfect classroom for a powerful philosophical lesson from a renown deep thinker, Albert Camus. Now if you were an English major, you would know Camus won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1957. Okay, not a terribly important thing to know. Camus wrote an essay called The Myth of Sisyphus. Remember in Greek mythology, Sisyphus was the poor guy who pushed a boulder up a hill only to have it keep rolling back down…for eternity. The work’s most famous line is timeless and could have been written about every athlete in the world, from runners to triathletes and everything in between. “The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must image Sisyphus happy.” Camus identified something profound about being human. There is deep joy to be found in working for something, toward something, even if ultimately, there is no discernible reward or reason to do so. The doing of the thing is the reward.
Our triathlon has seen every kind of weather over 25 years, a veritable Goldie Locks and the Three Bears of race day weather. It’s been too cold, too hot, and most often, too windy. Some years, it’s been “just right.” In 2026, we had the daily double of challenging weather; too cold and too windy. It was a day for struggle. There was no question about whether or not it would be a hard day. It was also a day fitting of my most favorite Albert Camus quote of all, “In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.” During our Tri-Nebraska Triathlon, even as the wind blustered and blew, I saw triathlete after triathlete find their “invincible summer.” What a gift.
Camus’s philosophy includes the idea of defiance in the face of struggle. Starting this year’s triathlon was an act of personal defiance. Sure, there are PRFS points to be earned, and medals and some pride too, but on a day when the conditions are as much an opponent as the distance or other triathletes, it takes so much more than a desire to earn a few points. It takes a willingness to defy our need for things to be comfortable, to come easy, with little or no friction. I loved what one triathlete said to me after her race. “When I was coming back on the bike, I wanted to get off my bike and cry. But I kept going.” That is an act of defiance. She defied all that Mother Nature threw at her along with her own doubts. It was her personal call to action to build the muscle we call resilience. She kept going, and the next time something hard happens in her life, as it always does, she will know beyond any doubt that she has the ability to get through the next challenge in front of her. She can face the gales and gusts and survive.
There were other stories of triathletes finding their “invincible summer”. There was the seasoned triathlete too cold to safely continue. Her invincible summer was in the wisdom of knowing her limits and accepting that it wasn’t going to be her day. Her wisdom comes from years and years of racing experience and her deep familiarity with and acceptance of the nature of struggle. There was the aging triathlete who too had to let go of the finish line. When you live in a body long enough, you come to know it well, every muscle and molecule. You are so at home in your body, you wouldn’t think of not listening to it. There was the novice triathlete who could have easily abandoned her effort, covered in warm blankets, cozy and out of the wind. Her invincible summer was to bundle up and finish what she started.
I suspect that every Tri-Nebraska Triathlon athlete had a story to tell. Let’s face it, tough conditions make for great stories. Let’s not forget the volunteers who braved the elements, most for 4 hours or more so that our triathletes could test their mettle and defy the day Nature gave us. They too found their invincible summer in the generosity of their volunteer spirit. Watching twenty-five years of this triathlon has been one of the privileges of my lifetime. I have seen more acts of courage, more demonstrations of sheer will, and more grace under pressure than most folks get to witness in a lifetime. Thank you to John Guethlein, Brock Wurl, NebraskaLand Bank, all the other sponsors and those precious volunteers. Thank you to every kiddo and parent who got to enjoy a beautiful evening and to each triathlete who did the ridiculous, absurd, unreasonable, heroic and inspiring thing that called forth invincible summer in the midst of winter. Albert Camus would be proud.