PIM - Batons - Week 3

10x(1R+2W)

Becoming a Champion

Hello Batons!

I included an excerpt from Ryan Hall's blog. He is possibly the next American phenom at the marathon distance, and he is our best hope for a gold medal in the Olympic marathon in quite some time.

The key takeaway I get is that I don't have to win championships in order to be a champion. I measure myself against my maximum effort. I'm bursting with pride when I give 100% and I'm disappointed with myself when I give any less. Fellow runners, you have it in you to give championship effort and thereby become a champion. And although you and I will never touch Ryan's speed, we have the capacity to achieve greatness just like him. You just have to choose to "get back up".


How does Ryan's statement pertain to you?
--------------------------------------------
"The other day I was reflecting on how, when I was little, I always built up Olympians as these super-strong people who were just good all the time. Now that I am going to be one, it feels ironic that I thought of Olympians in this way. When I look at my strengths I realize that one of the most important characteristics I have is simply the ability to get back up. "
...
"I can’t tell you how many 800’s I jogged in over 2 minutes, even though I was going all out, or how many races I was doing everything I could do to just cover the distance. I remember racing in the London Super Grand Prix 5,000M two years ago getting the applause from the crowd for the last place runner who is struggling in far behind the rest of the field. After all these hard times, I, like Alicia, had a choice to make: was I going to get up or give in? I think some of the most celebrated moments in human achievement should be those times when everything is going against a person and they are down in the dumps but they simply choose to get up. That’s real greatness!"


Consider reading the entire blog entry at the link below:
http://www.thefinalsprint.com/2008/01/ryan-hall-perseverance-elite-athlete-blog-entry-1/