Favorite Endurance Quotes.

Suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope

Romans 5: 3-4

All the world is full of suffering. It is also full of overcoming

Helen Keller

The only antidote to mental suffering is physical pain

Karl Marx

Suffering is the substance of life and the root of personality, for it is only suffering that makes us persons

Miguel de Unamuno

It’s at the borders of pain and suffering that the men are separated from the boys

Emil Zatopek

If the word quit is part of your vocabulary, then the word finish is likely not

B.G. Jett

It hurts to a point and then it doesn’t get any worse

Ann Trason

Tough times don’t last but tough people do

A.C. Green

We will go to the moon.  We will go to the moon and do other things, not because they are easy but because they are hard

John F. Kennedy Jr.

The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit.  The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are.

Marcus Aurelius

What matters is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight – it’s the size of the fight in the dog

Dwight D. Eisenhower

As you think, you shall become

Bruce Lee

A will finds a way

Orison Swett Marden

Have courage to act instead of react.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.

Aristotle

Life’s battles don’t always go to the stronger or faster man.  Sooner or later the man who wins is the man who thinks he can.

-Vince Lombardi

Reflection / Training Update (golf and running)

During the last 60 days I have learned a few things. I realized how (1) how truly unhappy I was and (2) that I can't hide it very well. I was on was a path that led nowhere and regardless of what I told myself that's the way it was. I was stuck in a position where all I did was babysit adults who acted like 3 year old's (not all but quite a few) and obeyed instructions from individuals who led out of fear and not out of a sense of duty. It was the difference between – “do this because it is right” and “do this because anything other may be wrong.” The distinction seems small but it was a group who was only concerned with coddling the loudest child and praying they did not end up changing the dirty diaper. This burned me up inside and I guess I was unable to hide my lack of appreciation for the status-quot. I really did learn from it and many aspects of it were great. I had the chance to meet and talk to great people...not going to lie it was tough to "see what they say" when you knew you were being asked to short change someone's request, but its business I guess... just not my style to shaft the good ones and take care of the complainers, just saying. More importantly I have re-focused on whats important to me. It is hard to re-focus on doing what makes you happy when you have spent so many years adjusting to mild misery. But lesson learned and work in progress.  

My golf game is improving. I am putting by feel and that has been working out for me. I have a consistent routine with my shots. My routine includes a small checklist; lie, environment, aim, decide...lead. I “lead” my game where I want it to go so I just check all those things off in my head before even picking the club. Most people aim after they have decided what club they are going to use for the distance. But I find it more beneficial to aim prior to club selection because I want to have a clear head about what I expect the ball to do after contact, no sense in deciding where the ball is going to go after you choose how its going to get there. I think the key for me is to come down steep on the ball. The moment I feel that I am not going at a steep angle I start hitting very low trap shots. These are like angry punch shots with no height and lackluster distance. When I feel like I am going steep on the shot I get soaring powerful shots. I am still working on getting the draw to be more subtle than it currently is, but I will take those over the low punchers; dead aim baby. I feel confident that if I can connect the dots for a full round I may have a shot at breaking 90 in the next few months.

My running is better mileage-wise; cranking them out in bigger numbers. I still feel weak sometimes but I think it is a little fatigue and a little recklessness since I do go big sometimes I am not supposed too. I know I can be better about following Coach Jeff and Coach Diane's schedule for me but sometimes I just don't have it in me to run. I think I am a sucker for cold and rain. The worse the conditions outside are the more badly I want to go and run. If its 70 and breezy I would rather sit and read a good book than go for a trail run my logic being that it is just too nice to go run, I know I am strange. I am also noticing that my back tenses up since i try to find balance with my arms.  Its a constant struggle to remember to relax.  Get the form and the miles will come.

UTMB 2011

If I could do a race and retire after finishing it, it would be the UTMB.  Its just electric.
Video #1: Salomon Running
Video #2: The North Face (title sponsor)