The evening of Friday February 29th 2008 I had to decide just how important it was to finish something I had started even at the risk of failing.

For 2 months prior I had been casually preparing for a 45-mile mountain bike race in Orange County California. Everything was working against me, giving me excuse after excuse to quit before even trying. I did not put the work in I had hoped to, I was just getting over a bad cold, my riding partner dropped out for family reasons, and I was going to have to leave my house at 3:30am to drive 1 hour and then get on my bike at 5am to ride for 9 hours.

Despite this, I felt it would be wrong to give up. My life had a pattern of giving in to excuses.

“I did not come this far to just give up before trying”, I told my wife as she encouraged me.

So that night I got my gear together. I went to my local bike shop and stocked up on energy bars and supplies. I put everything I needed right by the front door. All I had to do was wake up, throw on my clothes, and go. My bike was loaded and ready. In the back of my mind I had no idea whether I would be able to complete the race. They had cutoff times that were required, and if you did not make those times they sent you back down the hill to catch a shuttle.

The next day I pondered previous rides while driving in the early morning darkness. The longest ride I had done was 24 miles in 4 hours. I estimated I would be on the seat for over 8 hours

When I arrived it was cold, dark, and raining. The starting line was packed, and I was anxious. I was chatting with a friend from work who was asking me, “are you ready”? I didn’t know how to answer. “As ready as I will ever be” I replied. The first 12 miles were a steady climb, as female rider after female rider passed me by. Then miles 13-18 were extremely difficult seemingly vertical hills. It was a mental push. At moments I thought, “I am going to make this, this is cake, there has to be a long downhill right after this ridge”. Then at other moments I thought, “I am going to die up here” as one climb only led to another. I was alone most of the ride. It was some of the most beautiful scenery I have seen in my life. I was literally riding in and out of clouds from mountain peak to mountain peak. I was alone with the sounds of silence and iPod. A splash of dirt under the tires of my bike with the occasional squeak of my chain or brakes reminded me of my pain. I could hear my heart, and feel my breath in front of me.

Within 100 yards of the last cutoff point I discovered a power to reject odds and refuse excuses in a search for a piece of personal greatness. It wasn’t about what I was doing anymore, but what I was becoming. I made the last cutoff with a literal minute to spare, and proceeded to ride the last 12 miles with a permanent smile on my face. The photo in this article was taken during that last section, around mile 32.

I finished in 9:06:13. You can see the results at the Warrior Society Site (110th place!).

I could not wait to get home and share the victory with my friends and family. Still, I could not sit down for 2 days…

So what is the point?
Now I am speaking directly to you, the reader. Becoming a CCIE is a lot like taking on a 45-mile endurance mountain bike race. When I approached this process I realized there is a huge failure rate. There would and will be countless excuses to give up. There will be moments where it seems the entire point is lost. I can tell you that I have already had to stride through some of these difficulties and I am barely on my journey. There are peaks, and there are valleys. There are riding partners, some of whom are more experienced and more gifted, and there are others behind.

Excuses
Never allow for excuses. This means that before considering the CCIE journey you have to consider the cost. Consider that the financial cost is only a part of it. Some of us are sponsored, and some of us are not. But all of us must consider the time it will take. If you have a family, they will feel it. If you have a job it will suffer. Your friends will get tired of you bailing on Friday night to go home and study EIGRP. If you consider the costs and can accept these, then set a realistic time based goal, and remind yourself there are no excuses. You are getting married to CCIE now…

Purpose
Everyone has a different reason for getting CCIE. Generally, we want to the best infrastructure engineers out there. Specifically, some of you want to be better managers, better implementers, better architects, or better anything. In the darkest hours you will feel like the effort is not worth the reward. Do not let the fog of pain rob you of the reality of victory. Start out with a clear vision of where you want to be headed after getting certified. Envision yourself already there, and don’t forget that image. The CCIE journey has many peaks and valleys. The art of achieving goals is largely remembering why you are there in the first place. Don’t allow yourself to waffle on those goals because that only leads to regret.

Community
Remember, there is a community of people going through much of the same pains. There are some that are ahead of you, use them. There are others that are behind, lead them and guide them. Getting a good sense of community during a personal journey like this will help guide you to success. As you sit in that valley and look up at a climb you will see riders scattered on the trail. There is something powerfully encouraging there, which cannot be replicated. Pride must be taken out of the equation, because it will work against you. Do not be discouraged by the younger or faster riders that blow by you. Equally, do not look down on others that are behind you or those you pass up. Keep your face toward the goal and be a good example of persistence. If you have to tow someone do it. You will grow stronger, and they will be thankful. One of the biggest assets to you is community.

In Conclusion
I know it is cliché to say, but if CCIE were easy it would be worthless. It would be another paper certification, or another 12-mile ride out my backyard. Five years ago I started toward my CCNA and CCSP, yet never completed. I have accepted that I let excuses get in the way (seems to be a common theme in my life the last decade). I have grown a lot in my professional career since then. I decided a few months ago to put the CCIE in my targets for 2010. I believe that infrastructure is not only the future, but it is the present. With the wave of “cloud computing” I have chosen to focus on CCIE (R&S) for strategic reasons. I am blogging about my experiences, and am going to be testing for my CCNA in the next 2 weeks. I challenge any of my readers to dig deep and join me if you have not already. I have just shared with you my personal philosophy on this journey, and the tactics I will rely on to push through and pass the finish line.

I am an IT Director in the construction industry.
I enjoy management, and I enjoy high level infrastructure IT. The way I see myself being able to bridge these two loves is via the CCIE certification. This journal is for my own personal satisfaction. I do a lot more than just CCIE studies. Some of the technology I work with every day includes: Microsoft (no duh, but mostly server technology), Citrix, NetApp, VMWare, HP, Linux, and so on. Because of this, I may randomly post interesting things going on around me such as Enterprise Vault Exchange Deployments, WAN Optimization Projects, BES best practices, or even patch deployment, DataONTAP hacks, etc.

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You can visit John's blog via http://www.johnpatricklockie.com/.
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