If you’re like most people, you’re set in your ways. You talk about change, and you can easily see what others need to change, and in fact, you openly talk about those people behind their back, not because you’re mean, but simply because you are weak.
Courageous people anger others. Courageous people don’t intend that anymore than you do. We are all human, and therefore, we succumb to temptation long before we are willing to fight the good fight.
If you don’t fight for your health, who will?
If you don’t start fighting for your health today, then when?
So, as you watched yesterday’s You Tube video, rather than see some old guy showing off, remember that I couldn’t even get my legs to parallel for one second. Not even one second. Are you paying attention?
There is hope for you, but you must do two things. See you tomorrow.
This morning, at 4:50AM, while deciding what to write here at Lane 8, found a post I had started in August 2009, but had never finished, never posted.
In watching these two videos, it’s clear where my mind was. It was on motivation. Everyday our minds should be on motivation. Everyday.
Many of you will never be runners. That’s ok. Never want you to feel like you should be a runner. But I absolutely want you to feel you should do something. Walk, bike, dance, roll, swim, stairs, yoga, gym, ski…. it doesn’t matter, unless it matters to you.
Steve Prefontaine. The son of an Oregon logger man.
Too small for football. Too slow for track. Not a sprinter. Also not fast enough to be a great miler.
But, he could endure more pain than anyone else.
He set the the National High School two-mile record. Bill Bowerman, the University of Oregon head Track Coach, recruited “Pre” and the two of them forever changed American running.
Steve Prefontaine is the only athlete, ever, which Nike has immortalized with a bronze statue. Are ya with me? The only one.
This You Tube video is the final five minutes (of a 13-minute race) of the 1972 Munich Olympics 5,000 meter final. It’s breathtaking, and awe inspiring to watch a man run the best race of his life, and finish fourth.
America thought the best was still to come and the world knew that Steve Prefontaine would return in four years, with a vengence and determination to win the Olympic Gold medal and set a new World Record.
But a tragic, late night car crash changed all that.
Here’s my personal favorite tip to stay motivated.
Find a million ways.
Who’s going to be more passionate and concerned for your motivation than you?
Seriously. Who?
Studying others who’ve overcome obstacles is just one way. It’s one of my favorite ways. Steve Prefontaine, a rebel, also happened to be a runner.
And in the process, with his relentless courage and determination, he changed the way Americans thought, and continue to think, about running. He held every American running record from 2,000 – 10,000 meters.
In his greatest race at the 1972 Munich Olympics, he finished fourth. No medal. No glory. No hero’s welcome.
But yet, he’s the only athlete Nike has ever immortalized in a bronze statue. Ever. Any sport. Period.
Lane 8 is the worst lane in Track & Field. Fast runners are put in the middle lanes and slower runners are assigned the outer lanes. The slowest competitor is always assigned Lane 8.
And in the 400 meters, which I compete in, you stay in your lane the entire race. The way the starting lines are staggered, makes it look like Lane 8 is way out in front, when in fact, it’s the exact same distance as the others.
So many consider lane 8 the worst lane because you cannot see any of the other competitors, until they pass you.
My goal is to be in Lane 8, the worst lane. And I also don’t care if I come in last. Seriously.
Our son (9) says, “Dad, you want the worst lane and you don’t care if you come in last?”
(Pause for effect, and read each of the next three sentences with decent pauses in between)
“That’s right, son, Lane 8. In the finals. At the World Championships.”
I continued the answer for our son, “You can come in last and still be the eighth best in the entire world.”
I then shared the moral of the story with our son:
“You can go through life and set the bar low, reach it, but then live with the regret of wondering what you could have done if you tried harder. Or, you can set the bar ridiculously high, fail, and yet live with peace because you know in your heart you did your very best.”
Here’s another short, quirky You Tube video from jeff noel at University of Oregon and Track Town USA.
If you are not a Track fan, that’s ok. This blog isn’t about Track anyway, it’s about excellence, our physical well-being and our approach to what we do with it.
There’s a scene in which the University of Oregon track team is at the NCAA’s and Bowerman tells the team, essentially, there is no need to practice, “The hay’s in the barn”.
The hard work has been done. Now, it’s time for the feast. Time to celebrate, so to speak.
Yesterday, I actually had a very high quality speed workout and then a few hours later hit Gold’s Gym to do a light core workout.
As I was working my core, I came to a realization – I’m in great shape. There is no need at this point to bust my hump.
The hay is in the barn.
Party time! Carpe diem, jeff noel :)
PS. Here’s Without Limits Trailer:
Inspired? If not, I hope you find it somewhere soon.
