"The Blue" by Brandyn Roark Gray

"THE BLUE"

The spirit of XTERRA comes alive in this first-person account of a pre-race "epiphany" had by Brandyn Roark Gray in the Austrian Alps.

I'm not often one of those people defined by "one specific moment" in my life. My life has been filled with wonder and excitement and I have always found joy and contentment in the little things. But, when I arrived in Austria to race the XTERRA European Champs, my first night there unfolded into a simple but defining moment.

Jenny and I had traveled all day on the train, following two days of intense and long travel through Germany. We were tired, a bit out of sorts, and didn't know how we were going to get from the train station in Klagenfurt to the little town of Klopeinersee where the race venue was. To our relief, when we stepped off the train, XTERRA Austrian staffers Astrid and Christian were there greeting us and whisked us away in their cars which were proudly plastered with one-foot high XTERRA lettering. After showing us the transition area and the amazing run finish, (climbing 20 meters up a wooden staircase) they helped us get set up in our room for our first night in the little Austrian village. Tired and busy, they were off to do more work on the course we would be racing in three days. They were working tirelessly and we thanked them numerous times for helping us even though they had so much to do.

Then we were on our own...which in a foreign country has a myriad of feelings...a little intimidating, a little exhilarating and a little confusing all wrapped into one persons mind and heart.

What unfolded next was a serious of simple, everyday, mundane, events which in my mind, turned out to be an amazing and unforgettable experience in which I realized even more why I race and love my sport of XTERRA.

Of course, being athlete minded, we are always making sure to get in something that gets the blood moving and drives us toward our next goal in racing, we decided we needed to do a swim. Little did we know how much this simple lake swim would mean to us.

We were hot and quite exhausted and knew that spinning the shoulders and arms would feel wonderful. We grabbed our swim bags, jumped on our bikes and headed to the beach, not before stopping for some snacks at the local market. Along the way, we heard our names called from a bench on the side of the road. Nico, Phillipe and Felix had the same wonderful idea to swim and asked us if we wanted to join them. Walking and talking, we headed down to the lake together, 5 people, from 4 different countries, all brought together by one brilliant idea...XTERRA.

As we approached the lake, I noticed the sun was starting to drip beneath the rugged, Austrian mountains and was turning shades of vibrant orange and red. My heart skipped a beat when I saw the blue. That's what I called my home, the blue, the water, the wet earthen part of life that made me feel so alive. I swam since I was six-years-old, sometimes spending seven-hours a day in the pool, swimming through college, on a national team and then onto training for XTERRA. Often times I would get so sick of the water, the pain and the early mornings in a cold pool. For the last few years I haven't swam more than once a week for my training from being "burnt out" from the water. But here, in the openness of the sweet forest air, and the curiosity of a new and un-explored pool of blue, I could forget the need to "swim" and just imagined the chance to play and discover.

Of course, I was the last one into the lake, always taking my sweet time and just watching Jenny swim 100, 200, 300 yards off the beach. Then, like a 5-year-old I ran, dove and hit the blue, crisp water. It felt like a wonder-world underneath the surface, I stayed under longer than usual, swimming down to the depth of the lake. When I returned to the surface, I glanced around and Jenny and our three new friends were swimming to the middle of the sea.

"Fantastic," I thought as I swam with them. We swam to the middle of the lake and all a while I was thinking to myself, "this is amazing", "I am swimming in an Austrian Mountain lake while the sun is just settling over the horizon, all the time wondering if my new friends felt the wonder that I did. When we got to the middle, I looked up, saw my friend's faces and knew, we were all having the same experience. Everyone was happy, smiling just a little bit like giddy children; and Jenny's face said it all. She just smiled, simply, but with so much excitement and awe, I knew she felt it too. Felix suggested we swim to the other end of the lake and him and I took off. We got almost the whole way across and realized the sun was settling in for the night and the horizon was changing from fiery red and magenta to a dark blueberry color. We hesitated, then swam back to meet our friends who were about 300 yards away.

As I was swimming I realized the beauty and uniqueness of my sport of XTERRA. I knew it was special, I knew it was a family and I knew from five years in the sport it had the capacity to bring together families, elite athletes, everyday corporate professionals, challenged athletes, teenagers and grandparents, and all sorts of humans. But, being here, in an unfamiliar place, not able to communicate through spoken word, but rather through gestures, smiles and body language, I knew that there were others out there that "get it".

XTERRA is not just about racing fast, it's about racing outside yourself. XTERRA is not just about crossing the finish line first, it's about who's there with you when you cross it. XTERRA is not just about amateurs or pros, it's about true family and friends. XTERRA is not just about your country, it's about the unity our sport brings us even though we live worlds apart. It's the time we spend training and the in between spaces of life that bring us all together, it's the same undulation of emotions we all feel before, during, an after our race that emanates in our hearts.

As we swam back to shore, the sun was no longer in focus. I could make out the faint light thorough my tinted goggles and knew the night was coming. I didn't want the moment to wither and fade and I knew that even though the day was ending and our swim across the sea was almost done, I would cherish and remember this instance forever. I flipped and somersaulted through the water on my way into the beach, took one more leaping dive off the dock into the crisp blue and then headed back to dry off with my new friends. I knew they all had as much of a wonderful time as me as I saw all their faces, grinning ear to ear.

If you've had the chance to do an XTERRA event, hopefully you know what I mean when I say it's unique and true to its roots. If you haven't, I invite you to spend a day or two with us, a family from all walks of life, who honestly care about each other as people and not just as great athletes. The next time you are stressed, the next time you are anxious and running around crazy preparing for your race, stop, slow down and remember where you are, who you are with and why you are there.

And, if you have the chance, I invite you to take a swim with us, we will be waiting by the blue...waiting and excited to show you our world where we are all blessed by so much. Waiting to share with you our family of XTERRA.  And if you are already here, I will see you on the race course tomorrow, in Austria, in the lake that reminded me of my love for swimming, the people I am with, and my sport of XTERRA.

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