Self-Pity 

I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself.

A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself. 

D. H. Lawrence

 

 

"I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall

not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time."

Jack London

American Author

 

 

“Come to the edge.”  

“We can't. We're afraid.”

“Come to the edge.”

“We can't. We will fall!”

“Come to the edge.”

And they came.And he pushed them.

And they flew.

 

 

"For me cross-country is the truest sport, the rest are just games. Football, soccer, basketball are merely games in which there is room enough for only one winner and one loser. Granted in cross-country someone always walks away with the gold, but there are never any losers, not then, not now, and not ever. Cross-country is not a glamorous sport. I've never seen a grandstand near a finish line, nor heard a cheerleader, unless you count my mom. There is little fame for a runner, only the personal satisfaction of knowing you gave your all. I don't run for fame or glory, you can't with three hundred other girls on the starting line. Each runner has her own goals, hopes, and dreams...I run because the sport got a hold of my heart, a grasp five thousand times stronger than life. The fall leaves, and the wind that blows among them beckoned me to run with them, an invitation I could hardly refuse. I run because I love to feel my head spinning in all directions after an impossible practice, because I love to hear my teammates cheer for one another, because I love to see personal goals set and reached, but, most of all, I run because I love to finish in the pouring rain...Running is a metaphor for life. I've learned a lot about myself during the long hours of practice...I learned you can give 110%, set goals and still not reach them. I've learned sometimes when the pain is intolerable, you have to swallow your pride, grit your teeth, silence the tears, and run. I've learned to stick with it, and keep trying, long after everyone else has abandoned the cause. I've learned there are no failures, only temporary setbacks. I've learned that the perfect team often loses, and occasionally the underdog triumphs. I've learned that teammates have an invisible bond with each other, a bond that can never be broken, a bond of dedication, love, and respect. I've learned that some goals are so worthy it's glorious even to fail...The same is true about life...It rarely goes the way you hoped it would, but you have to make the best of it, adjust, and move on. There is a lesson to be learned in every victory, and every defeat whether it be on or off  the course....Running has taught me above all that winning comes from within. That I don't have to prove anything to anyone except myself. that I don't needpraise from others when I'm proud of myself. That I can walk away a winner, when the team hasn't won, and first place was a long way off."

-a runner

 

 

FROM CARL LEWIS DIARY!

“I want to win as much as ever.  Maybe even more.  I still turn to one of my favorite quotes as an injection of fire:  “All athletes should bear in mind that they are competing not with other athletes but with their own capacities.  Whatever I have already achieved, I have to go beyond.”  And I will....“Two more weeks,” he said.  One more competition.  One.  Maybe it seems like you’ve already accomplished everything you want.  Maybe none of this seems like it matters right now.  But these Olympics are something you’ll have the rest of your life to think about.  You don’t want to be looking back with any regrets! ... “No matter what you do, you’re always going to have my support, you know that.  But I want you to think about something.  If you don’t think it’s enough anymore to just go out and compete for yourself, then do it for those of us who can’t compete.  Do it for those of us who care about you but can’t compete.”

 

 

"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it

must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle; when the sun comes up, you'd better be running."

--Herb Caen

 

 

"This is the beginning of a new day. You have been given this day to use as you will. You can waste it or use it for good. What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever; in its place is something that you have left behind...let it be something good."

 

 

When things go wrong as they sometimes will;

When the road you're trudging seems all uphill;

When the funds are low, and the debts are high

And you want to smile, but have to sigh;

When care is pressing you down a bit-

Rest if you must, but do not quit.

 

 

Don't Quit,"  Author Unknown

Success is failure turned inside out;

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt;

And you can never tell how close you are

It may be near when it seems so far;

So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit-

It's when things go wrong that you must not quit.

 

 

"Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure...than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy

much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."

 

 

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go."

 

 

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.  The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while DARING GREATLY so that his place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory or defeat."

 

 

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than success, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, gift, or skill. It will make or break a company...a church...a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past...we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how Ireact to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes."

Charles Swindoll

 

 

A SPECIAL BREED

"Have absolutely no doubt about it, cross country runners are as mentally strong, pure athletes as you will find. Even though the sport of cross country

isn't as popular as football or basketball, or as covered by the local media as baseball, Cross country runners are a rare breed of athletes. I mean think

about it, what kind of person goes out and trains by running 3-8 miles daily for a mentally and physically draining 2 or 3 mile race.

Theoretically it is very simple, get to point A to point B first. That's it. The work and training though, that a runner goes through is to say the least

admirable. Byrd High School cross country runners train during the summer and in the hot Louisiana sun in the months of August through October to find that personal achievement one feels after a long run, for their health, for fun (yes for fun, as crazy as it may sound in your mind) and to represent their school. For the most part, you will find cross country runners in the top of their academic class, with minds as great as their bodies. Not trying to sound silly

with that last sentence but it's true. You will rarely hear of a cross country runner being put on academic probation, suspended from school, or fighting with teammates. The reason for this is very simple. Like stated before, it takes a special person to go out and train 3-8 miles. To train like that a person must be mentally strong and have a sense of discipline much higher then their peers. I hope this article has if nothing else given you the reader a little more respect

for those students you see running cross country"

 

 

“My attitude is never be satisfied, never enough, NEVER!  The girls, they must be little tigers, clawing, kicking, biting, roaring to the top.  They stop for one

minute – POOF! – they are finished."

Bela Karolyi

 

 

“Aggressiveness is a vital asset of the world’s greatest athletes.  However, it’s even more important to the average athlete.  Attack your competition in a bold,

confident, and determined way, and you’ll make a giant leap toward realizing your full potential as a athlete.”

Greg “The Shark” Norman

 

 

“The trouble with being number one in the world is that it takes something of a driving, perfectionist mentality to attain that position in the first place, so

that once you achieve number one, you don’t relax and enjoy it.  Once you become number one, your main thought is to protect that, to get better still, to

stay ahead of number two.  It’s unfortunate, but almost by definition, if you are the best, if you are the champions of the world, you can’t take much

pleasure in it – or otherwise you couldn’t be the best.”

Billie Jean King

 

 

“The more success one achieves, the more pressure there is that goes with it, and I accept it.  I’d sure rather have the pressure of success that the lack of

pressure that goes with anonymity.”

Roger Clemens

 

 

“I play hard, I play in pain because I want to pour it out for the team…When you’ve been playing the game all your life you realize the ultimate compliment

comes from your teammates, the fellows with whom you not only play but also share both the good and bad times.  When the game is over I just want to look

at myself in the mirror – win or lose – and know I gave it everything I had, that I didn’t let anyone down.  That’s my number one priority.  I want to know that I

played the game straight from the heart.”

Joe Montana

 

 

“Give me some scratching, diving, hungry ballplayers who come to kill you”

Leo Durocher

 

 

 

“To win you have to risk loss.”

Jean-Claude Killy

 

 

“When you have someone in trouble, you have to put him away.  If you don’t you’ll just give him a shot of confidence and he’ll come back and knock your

head off.  Anybody who has competed in any sport, or in life, will tell you that.”

Dick Butkus

 

 

“To be good, a athlete has to take chances.  They guy who has confidence and pushes it to the limit, that’s the real athlete.”

Mario Andretti

 

 

"If you don't make a total commitment to whatever you're doing, then you start looking to bail out the first time the boat starts leaking. It's tough

enough getting that boat to shore with everybody rowing, let alone when a guy stands up and starts putting his life jacket on."

--Lou Holtz

 

 

PREVAIL

Only those who will risk going far

can possibly find out how far one can go!

 

VICTORY

happens when ten thousand hours of trainingmeets one moment of opportunity.

 

 

Fear is a darkroom where negatives develop.  ~Usman B. Asif

 

Keep your fears to yourself but share your courage with others.  ~Robert Louis Stevenson

 

There is a time to take counsel of your fears, and there is a time to never listen to any fear.  ~George S. Patton

 

He who fears something gives it power over him.  ~Moorish Proverb

 

He who fears to suffer, suffers from fear.  ~French Proverb

 

Attitudes are contagious.  Are yours worth catching?

 

It's so hard when I have to, and so easy when I want to.  ~Annie Gottlier

 

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.  ~Winston Churchill

 

Excellence is not a skill.  It is an attitude.  ~Ralph Marston

 

Mind is everything.  Muscle - pieces of rubber.  All that I am, I am because of my mind.  ~Paavo Nurmi

 

I am sure that nothing has such a decisive influence upon a man's course as his personal appearance, and not so much his appearance as his belief

in its attractiveness or unattractiveness.  ~Leo Tolstoy

 

Become a possibilitarian.  No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities - always see them, for they're

always there.  ~Norman Vincent Peale

 

If you have the will to win, you have achieved half your success; if you don't, you have achieved half your failure.  ~David Ambrose

 

What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog.  ~Dwight Eisenhower, address to Republican

National Committee, 31 January 1958

 

 

THERE IS ANOTHER KIND OF HERO

[ Bill Lyon, written circa 1979, Philadelphia Inquirer... ]

 

A cold wind blew the golden leaves across the hard ground. They made a rasping sound, like a death rattle.

 

It was a sound that matched his breathing. Harsh and grating and painful.  The sweat was frozen in crystal crusts at the end of his hair that flopped each time he took another stride and his feet fell heavily, jarringly, on the ground.

 

He wore sneakers that were tattered and shredded from the shrapnel of a thousand small pebbles over which he had run. His sweatpants were gray. It was a color that matched his complexion.   His arms drooped with exhaustion, like the flowers bending to give way to winter, and his was a lost, hopeless cause. For the winner was already across the finish line, far ahead, out of sight. And the other runners had long ago left him behind.  His legs screamed at him to stop. His scorched lungs pleaded for rest. Even his socks seemed to fly at half-mast around his ankles. soiled flags of surrender.  Still, he ran.

 

In the autumn of our dreams, we are all quarterbacks. We are cunning and graceful and when we step into the huddle everyone bends forward eagerly and the crowd rises expectantly because it knows we will deliver the bomb just as the clock blinks down to zero.

 

Ah, but that is in the autumn of our dreams, not in the winter of out reality.  You want to know about reality? Then go watch the other autumn sport. It is called cross-country. Watch it and you will know what they mean when they speak of the loneliness of the long distance runner.

 

Cross-country runners don't get scholarships. Or no-cut contracts. Or offers to endorse deoderant or panty hose or coffee or cars.  Cross-country runners get shin splints and blisters on their feet and runny noses and watery eyes. One thing more. They get a special kind of self-satisfaction that few of us are ever privileged to experience. Oh, it is not from winning. It is merely from finishing, from ever going out there in the first place and running through puddles and briar patches and up hills and down hills and telling lies to your legs, and running on even when the others pass you, one-by-one, and geez, don't they ever get tired, don't they have a chest that's on fire, don't they ever get the dry heaves, and who cares anyway because there's no crowd, no cheerleaders, just hard ground and ugly ol' trees with no leaves and some guy driving by a car, honking his horn and grinning like an idiot, and oh God, why don't I just slow down and walk for a little ways?

 

That, friends, is reality.

 

Oh, us silly damn sports writers, we get all caught up in down-and-outs and slam-dunks and power-play goals and a frost-bitten World Series and sometimes we get the notion that what comes out of the mouth of some semi-literate who is a millionaire only because his glands went beserk at an early age ranks right up there in importance with the Dead Sea Scrolls.   So we tend to dismiss things like cross-country as "minor" sports, and besides, who the hell knows how to read a stopwatch past the 4-minute mark anyway?

 

So in our jock fantasies, the hero is the guy who scores the winning touchdown. But that is not reality. Reality is the kid you'll see when you're driving through a part or past a golf course, the kid with the stocking cap and the sweat-stained sneakers, loping along way behind the field, his eyes rolling wildly, this hypnotic trance of  pain and puzzlement contorting his face.

 

Maybe he will not be able to put into words exactly why he runs. Maybe he will mention something about "gutting it out" or pushing through the pain barrier or running on because he has this curiosity that drives him to discover just how much he is capable of... or not capable of.

 

That can be the harshest kind of reality, and anyone who is willing to confront it, then he is, in the truest, purest sense, an athlete.

 

 

TRAIN

NOT TO BE THE BEST...

TRAIN

TO BE THE BEST ON YOUR WORST DAY

 

 

Athletes need to set goals and believe in themselves

To really achieve usually means doing something that others believe is impossible.  

The spirit of an athlete that is aiming for the top needs to be developed and protected from influences that could destroy it.  If a potentially great athlete is always in the company of athletes with no real commitment toward s a similar dream then problems discriminating between what everyone else is doing and what needs to be done will arise.

Strong desire is a must.

Top athletes must be determined and committed.  This should be obvious in the way they approach the “process” of training both in and out of practice.  It is very easy for an athlete to gradulally lose that fire and settle for being average instead of the best they can be.

Most of our youth are used to being comfortable and usually don’t have to wait very long to get the enjoyment they want.

 

 

Today I woke up, and realized every day gets shorter and every minute turns into the longest second, yet never ending.

We each have our own finish line, but understand it never ends because we will be remembered.  Hopefully immortalized because of what you did right rather then wrong.

Better to be in the hall of fame than shame.

We create this world, we write our own story.

It's about the award of being immortalized and remembered for all the right reasons.

Mistakes are forgotten, no footprints of any missteps.

So when it's so late that it's early, and you need to rise, remember why you do what you do.

The adrenaline rush of creating what you want people to think about when they think of you:

Your family, your team, your firend, the joy of looking back and saying that you did it.

Winning the game: hall of fame.

 

 

 NICK SYMMONDS WORDS OF WISDOM

 

The cream always rises to the top

“Coach [Kelly] Sullivan shared these words of wisdom with me going into the 2008 Olympic Trials. I called him and told him I was so nervous that I could hardly sleep or get through each day.   “He reminded me that I was one of the favourites to make the team and then said: ‘I don't know how or why, but championships have a way of separating out the athletes that are mentally and physically strongest. Somehow the cream always rises to the top and you, Nick, are most certainly part of the cream’.  “I slept like a baby after hearing those words.” 

 

It's just running

“Coach Sam Lapray has been my best friend and mentor for the last 13 years. In all of the good and the bad times, he is by my side reminding me that it’s just running. I love this sport and have a lot of fun with it, but in the big scheme of things, it's just running. 

“It's not family, not curing cancer, not feeding the world, it's running around in circles. I think too often pro athletes can lose perspective and forget what is really important in life. I've been lucky to have coach Sam in my life encouraging me to be humble in victory and defeat.”

 

 

 

 

Whatever you give your attention to will flourish

When you see someone successful in a sport, career, parenting, relationships, losing weight, saving money, or becoming clean and sober…it’s because they work at it consistently.  They practice.  They focus on a desired result.  Successful people work hard at becoming and remaining successful.  If you want different results than what you’ve been getting in the past…then are you ready to let go of some activities, associations, thoughts or habits?

Joe Louis once said, “There is no such thing as a “natural”.  A natural dancer has to practice hard.  A natural painter has to paint all the time and a natural fool has to work at it.”  Success requires discipline, focus, establishing your priorities, determination and placing yourself in a supportive environment to win and not fail.

 

 

Get up and get with me

Get with me or get out of my way

 

 

EXCERPT from Running with the Buffaloes

 

t’s go time.  They nod and slap hands with one another, wordlessly expressing their hopes, their prayers, and their brotherhood.  94 days and

thousands of miles since they convened at Kitt Field on an 88 degree afternoon, they await the starters call.  All that remains is thirty minutes to

“man up” and take the pain, one last time.  They are not afraid…

---------

Wetmore views camp as his opportunity to create a rapport between the staff and the athletes that will make work and trust easier down the road. 

More importantly, Wetmore sees the trip as the opportunity to start creating a synergy amongst the members.  If successful, at season’s end, the

sum of the parts will be grater than the whole.  Synergy - The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.   Wetmore also looks to camp to set the tone for the season.  “This is when everyone looks each other in the eye and realizes we’re all here to do one thing in common:  to train and be righteous.  This is where they’ll make this unspoken agreement.”

Righteous - Morally upright; without guilt or sin - In accordance with virtue or  morality. 

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But first, there is other business to attend to.  After showering, the men and women gather together for the team-only meeting in the hotel’s conference room.  It is understood by the captains that they are to discuss and set the season’s objectives.

---------

“If your not enjoying the journey, you probably won’t enjoy the destination”  “We want to make sure that we are all on the same page, that we are all fully invested.”  More to the point What are our priorities?”

--------

What is interesting is the element of choice.  It is ingenious of Wetmore that he does not dictate what they will be shooting for, but that he lets them

decide what they hope to achieve.  It is their choice.  Once they elect to aim high, they are effectively empowering Wetmore to train them as hard as

he sees fit to take them to that level.  If they complain, he has but to remind them that they are the ones who decided they wanted to excel, he is

merely following their prerogative.  “Mark gives us the decision.  Hey, if you want to go out on Saturday night and party and drink, fine, practice is at 8 m.m.  Most people here want to be the best at what we do.  We’ve chosen.  We don’t want to live a lifestyle of partying.  Maybe that’s why we fit so well with Mark.  He doesn’t want to party either.  He encourages us to make our own decisions in running and in life…That’s why this team is so righteous outside of running.

 

The decision to sacrifice for running is not Goucher’s alone.  It is a collective decision.  The road ahead will be tough, and they understand that

they will need to lean on each other to get through the season.  Creating and cementing the relationships that will enable them to survive is why

they have camp.  We’re not here for training, we’re here to hang out and be friends, because friendship is the foundation of our team.  When the

foundation is friendship. It makes it a hell of a lot easier to get through the season.”  “When we come together as a group we’ll be way stronger than

as individuals.”

-------

Inevitably there will be some strong personality conflicts during the season, “still, you don’t have to hang out, as long as you’re serious two hours

a day.” 

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Already, the unspoken agreement is there; they are committed to doing what it takes to win the national title.  “This meeting is for the coaches…it

doesn’t show how dedicated we are.”  You do your talking with your feet.

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We want to get over the hump of being top five.  Until we win once, it’s kinda elusive…Excellence is expected.

 

 

EXCERPT From "Once A Runner" By John L. Parker

 

It's a simple choice! We can all be good boys and wear our letter sweaters around and get our little degrees and find some nice girl to settle, you know, down with... Take up what a friend of ours calls the hearty challenges of lawn care... Or we can blaze! Become legends in our own time, strike fear in the hearts of mediocre talent everywhere! We can scald dogs, put records out of reach! Make the stands gasp as we blow into an unearthly kick from three hundred yards out! We can become God's own messengers delivering the dreaded scrolls! We can race satan himslef till he wheezes fiery cinders down the back straight away... They'll speak our names in hushed tones, 'those guys are animals' they'll say! We can lay it on the line, bust a guy, show them a clean pair of heels. We can sprint the turn on a spring breeze and feel the winter leave our feet! We can, by god, let out demons loose and just wail on!

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What was the secret, they wanted to know; in a thousand different ways they wanted to know The Secret. And not one of them was prepared, truly prepared to believe that it had not so much to do with chemicals and zippy mental tricks as with that most unprofound and sometimes heart-rending process of removing, molecule by molecule, the very tough rubber that comprised the bottoms of his training shoes. The Trial of Miles; Miles of Trials.

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A runner is a miser, spending the pennies of his energy with great stinginess, constantly wanting to know how much he has spent and how much longer he will be expected to pay. He wants to be broke at precisely the moment he no longer needs his coin.