Chasing Michael Phelps

I have become obsessed.  

With Michael Phelps.

I wake up at (or stay up until) 3 am to watch him swim. (The BBC is only airing Olympic events live...)

I have changed my computer wallpaper to a picture of him.

And here I am, blogging about him.

I love the Olympics.  I always have.  Its a passion I share with my Mom.  Normally, we're really not into sports (understatement of the century), but every two years (Winter and Summer), for the two weeks of the Olympics, we will watch ANY event that's on... from badminton to curling, speed walking to cross-country skiing.  But this time, I live for the swimming.  And swimming alone.  I'm happy to catch anything else on my little breaks from working on my dissertation. But it is for the swimming that I am sacrificing my ever-precious sleep this week.  

Specifically for the swimming of Michael Phelps.

Why?  I had a good think about that today.  He's from my home state, Maryland.  And being so far away, any connection with home is exciting.  But that's not it. Its not even that he's got muscles in places I didn't even know muscles existed. (Though, I will admit, that is an added bonus.)

To explain this obsession, I have go back to the Spring of 2006.  I was working on my MA thesis at UMBC, and the Boston Red Sox were working for the Pennant.  My struggle to write the thesis mirrored their fight to win the World Series.  If the Boston Red Sox could finally win a World Series, I could finish my Masters degree!  They did, and I did.

But my current fascination with Phelps goes deeper than my motivational interest in the Sox. 

The picture I put on my computer isn't what you might be expecting; one of the posed shots with a Speedo and flexed muscles.  Instead, he is in the pool, pouring himself into his work, plowing through the water.  

Focused.  Committed.  Intense. Unstoppable.

Regardless of whether or not he actually does it... get all eight golds... just knowing, being reminded, that there is someone else out there (outside of academia) who is in pursuit of a dream--a dream that requires tremendous effort, sacrifice, and dedication to achieve within a limited time--its downright encouraging.

Knowing he's out there, pushing himself beyond his limits.

Pushing himself harder to be the best at doing what he loves.

Now that's the inspiration I have been looking for.