I did not sign up for the Weymouth Ironman 70.3 because I am a natural athlete. I signed up because Y.O.D.O. is about living on purpose, and I wanted to do something that would make that idea real, in my own body, in public, on a date in the calendar.
A 70.3 is a half Ironman. A 1.9 kilometre open water swim, a 90 kilometre bike, and a 21.1 kilometre run, one after the other. For me it is a way of saying, out loud, that the philosophy behind the company is not a slogan. It is a practice.
Why this race, and why now
Y.O.D.O. stands for "You Only Die Once." Most people hear that and flinch. I hear the opposite. Because we only live this once, and we never know which day will ask the most of us, we get to choose to live on purpose, to look out for the people we love while we still can, and to leave them with the words and the structure that mean they will not be lost if we are not there.
Training for Weymouth is the most honest version of that I can offer. Every early swim, every long ride along the Dorset coast, every run when my legs would rather not, is me practising what Y.O.D.O. asks of our members. Set a goal that matters. Show up for it on a rhythm. Notice your own signals. Let the people around you know how you are doing.
Three things I am trying to put into the world
1. Live on purpose.
A goal that scares you a little, with a date attached, changes how you spend your weeks. You stop drifting. You sleep earlier. You eat better. You text the friend you have been meaning to text, because you suddenly notice how much you want them in the grandstand. Y.O.D.O. is built on that same instinct, made gentler and more everyday. A small, regular Check-In that says, I am here, I am thinking of the people I love, and I am acting on it.
2. Notice the people who go quiet.
The hardest part of training is not the distance. It is the discipline of paying attention. To your own body, and to the people who quietly carry your weeks while you train. People rarely tell you they need you. They go a little quieter. Reply a little later. Cancel the thing they used to look forward to. Y.O.D.O. exists so that quiet does not have to mean invisible. The race is my reminder, in public, that noticing is a skill, and that we can build a structure around it instead of leaving it to luck.
3. Set goals, then build the boundaries that protect them.
You cannot finish a 70.3 without boundaries. Sleep is non-negotiable. Long sessions are non-negotiable. Saying no to the things that would quietly drain you is non-negotiable. Most of us know which boundaries we need in life. We just rarely give ourselves permission to keep them. A start line forces the question. So does naming the people who matter to you, choosing your Delegates, writing the messages you most want them to keep. Y.O.D.O. is, in a quiet way, a boundary-setting tool. It asks you to decide what matters, who matters, and how you want to be looked after.
What I am training for, beyond the medal
I am training for the version of me that lives more deliberately. The version that does not assume there is always more time. The version that has already told the people she loves what they mean to her, in her own voice, in her own words, so that nothing important is left to chance.
I am also training so that the company we are building feels like the life I am trying to live. Calm. Structured. Honest about what matters. A simple way to notice, to be noticed, and to leave behind the words that should never be left unsaid.
How you can be part of it
If any of this lands with you, there are three quiet things you can do.
- Pick one goal that scares you a little, and put a date on it.
- Choose one person in your life who has gone quiet lately, and check in on them this week.
- Set up your own Y.O.D.O. account, so the people you love would be gently noticed if you ever went quiet, and so the words you most want them to keep are already held safely for them.
I will see you in Weymouth. And, in the meantime, in the small, daily practice of living on purpose.
Check in. Live on.
Thea Kouraki, founder and CEO, Y.O.D.O. Ltd.