For me the reality of where I am today and the reality I want to be tomorrow is everything.  I shaved an entire minute off my run times this year.  I am now competing with the high school cross country kids at local races.  I finished 19th out of 500 last weekend, the only ones ahead of me were half my age.  This is what being an athlete is all about.  I know I work in IT during the day, but god damn if I'm not an athlete.  Ragen, not so much.