Q and A with Chris Lieto

On Tuesday Chris Lieto, pro triathelete, was speaking at the Cadillac Bar in Houston. So I went out to hear what he had to say. The first part of the evening we all got to go stand in line for a chance to meet him and get an autograph. Kind of like visiting Santa Clause at the mall, except this is for adults. So my opening line to him when I got up to the front was, “Hey, we both have something in common, we both got third at the race this weekend.” I know dorky right. Then I proceeded to be an even bigger dork and asked him if I could take a picture with him. Of course he was really nice and said sure, that must explain his deer in the headlights look in the picture. After the picture, he signed a photograph of himself for me that said, “Grant, Never Give Up,” signed Chris Lieto. Let me tell you how cool I felt. Then I noticed that he signed everyone’s photo the exact same. Oh well, so much for being unique. After that we had a 3 course meal provided for free by Memorial Herman who was sponsoring the event. The food was great and while we were eating MH took the chance to explain how they can help athletes get faster by doing lactate testing. Then, the man of the hour, came and spoke. Really he did talk about race specifics or goals that he had, or even advice. What he did was more of a motivational speech. The one part I really liked was he talked about visualizing your dreams, and we did a simple exercise to demonstrate the power of mental focus. He had us all stand up, extend our arm straight out in front of us, and then twist and point as far as we could behind us. Then he had us close our eyes and visualize ourselves doing this, going back to our furthest point, and then beyond that. We did this a few times and then opened our eyes and attempted to twist around again. Not only did everyone pass where they had gone originally, but it just seemed easier. It goes to show you how big of a limiting factor your brain can be. So his overall message was to dream and dream big, then to visualize, and the most important part, follow through with your dreams. Like I said, it was more of a motivational speech but it worked because I left with warm fuzzies in my stomach, or maybe it was the unlimited sopapias, I’m not sure, but either way it was a fun evening that really got me excited for the big race this weekend.