Keep your fears to yourself, but share your inspiration with others. Robert Louis Stevenson  

It hit me a few days ago... yes, I completed a Half-IronMan... yes, I can swim a mile... yes, I can ride 100 miles... so what? What does that do for anybody? Oh, don't get me wrong - I am very proud of those accomplishments. But they are not important for really any reason other than I accomplished them, or to anybody other than myself.
And then my best friend tells me she is volunteering as a Swim Angel for the Danskin Women's Triathlon. This woman is training hard for an IronMan event this fall, yet it is still important to her to help some beginner athlete friends get through an event.
I am sure there are many people like her who volunteer, who give back to the sport. And I realized how important it is to me that I not only accomplish my goals, but that I give back as well. This friend, and many others, provide the emotional support I need to ride those ugly, windy, hilly miles or swim against those salty waves. I have ridden with Team In Training for a few seasons now, and my goal for the 2009 Tahoe ride was not just to finish the ride myself, but to support those riders who were with us. My friend and I spent the entire season supporting a specific individual, a cancer survivor, to help him succeed in his cycling adventure - and he completed not one but two century rides! It felt pretty good to watch him cross under the finish line banner.
So, I volunteered to be a kayak supporter on the swim portion of the Danskin. And I will support many events in the future. If just one person I encounter in each event supports others in the future, it is worth it... not for my benefit, but for those who follow.