Tag: effort

Getting Better…

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The following is a true story about how when one strives to be the best, he brings himself, and others, to heights previously unimagined.

Our story begins with the most successful band in the history of rock and roll, the Beatles.  The year was 1965.  The Beatles were sitting on top of the musical world.  In the previous three years they had charted no fewer than 40 songs.  24 songs of those sings reached the Top-40 with 11 becoming number-one hits.  In that short time the Beatles released no fewer than six albums that also reached number-one on the charts.

The Beatles “yeah, yeah, yeah” style and sound was a defining aspect of popular music, yet, all of that was about to change…

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Running is Hard. Life is Hard. It’s all Good!

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I like to run.  A lot.  I like running very much (so I like running a lot).  I also like to run a lot of miles (so I like running a lot).   (I like when a sentence such as “I like running a lot” can be interpreted two different ways.)

When I run, which is most often on a treadmill at irrational hours of the early morning, I usually listen to music on my iPod.  I often get inspired by inspiring songs.  (I wonder how many other obvious statements I can write in this passage.)

I find every run, no matter what the distance, to be hard.  Every single run presents a challenge.

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Crash-Test Teaching

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Last fall, as my son and I were having some fun watching football, I was struck by the following commercial:

It is an extremely powerful commercial – one that strikes and resonates within the heart.

And it is so true.  100%.

And not just for cars.

Or crash dummies.

But for everyone.  Always.  Especially in a job where we deal with children.

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Success or Failure?

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I’m training for a marathon.  This will be my 20th marathon.  I’m excited and eager to get to the line and run this race.  I think it will be my best race in a long time.

There’s only one problem.

The race is 34 weeks away.

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The Story of a Winner (Meb Keflezighi)

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It is probably somewhat normal, even for adults, to have favorite sports figures that they root for.  Baseball, football, and hockey players, tennis and golf stars, auto racers, and others come to mind.  With that being said, there are probably few people who have a professional marathoner for whom they root.

I am one of those people.  I am fan of Meb Keflezighi.  He’s a champion marathoner.

But it hasn’t always been that way.

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26.2

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For a short time, I was going to title this blog 26.2.  Why 26.2?  It’s simple, that’s the distance of a marathon.

I run marathons.

I’m not fast.  I don’t ever win.  If I finish in the top 20% of all runners in a given race, I am thrilled. Lately, as I get get older, I am becoming happy to finish in the top 50% of all runners.

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