I thought this was a stirring article that captures some of the beauty, ferocity, dedication, excitement of our sport.
One of the books that the author refers to is Once a Runner. This is truly a cult book for serious distance runners; I loved it and recommend it to everyone (I also recommend that you save this for beginning of summer reading–don’t let it distract you from your classwork now 🙂 , and Once a Runner will also help get you motivated to get started with your summer running for a great cross country season!). The book is not great literature, but it is a great novel about running. Here is a quote from the protagonist that captures a lot of distance running (and training for track in general):
“You don’t become a champion by winning a morning workout. The only true way [to become a champion] is to marshal the ferocity of your ambition over the course of many days, weeks, months, and (if you could finally come to accept it) years. The Trial of Miles; Miles of Trials.”
This long term view of the path to success is not only true for distance running, this is true for all our track events–success comes from sustained effort over a long period of time, weeks or seasons or years. We all know talented athletes that come out and seem to try incredibly hard for a short period of time and then disappear while others (often seemingly less talented) continue to work and achieve marks that are far superior. And I think you will agree that the success that comes from sustained, hard effort is not limited to athletics–in school, in business, in our relationships, the people we admire (and sometimes envy) for their success comes from their ability to ‘…marshal the ferocity of [their] ambition over the course of…years’.
Reading this article, and thinking again about this book, gets me excited all over again about the upcoming season. I can’t wait to see what all of you achieve! I hope you are all getting motivated for your own personal ‘trial of miles’. Read this article and see if you feel your heart beat a little faster, and feel your motivation for some hard work begin to rise!
