Aristotle

My college rowing coach was a minimalist when it came to anything but coaching.  There were very few inspirational speaches, sparse motivational comments of any kind, and you can bet there were no group trips or practices wasted  on "team bonding."  Nope, there was rowing, and alot of it.  That's why when she broke out with an Aristotle quote my senior year after a total team meltdown, everyone stopped dead in their tracks.  She had printed a copy of the following quote for everyone on the team -- a gesture so out of the ordinary for her and thus meaningful to me, that that very piece of paper has followed me around for the last five years, reminding me of this:

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

Since that day I think I can confidently say that I have made my best effort to live by those words -- to pursue excellence in everything I do.  In some ways, an overwhelming thought.  To BE excellent, I have to practice excellence OVER and OVER and OVER again.  But on the other hand, I find some respite in knowing that it is not any one performance that makes me excellent or ruins me.  Rather, excellence is accrued over time with consistent effort and unwavering determination.  Inherently, these qualities, when met with passion, yield success. And yet success does not have to be defined as winning every time, or even winning once .  It is not about being the BEST or the BRIGHTEST.  The only thing that matters in pursuing our individual excellence is our own individual improvment -- wanting to be better, faster, stronger, smarter tomorrow than we were today.

We will always look  to other people's accomplishments and judge ourselves against them, but I try not to be discouraged by doing so.  Instead, I try to let the accomplishments of others serve as goals, and eventually stepping stones as I test and discover my own limits. Or then again, maybe I will never get there.  Maybe the pros and elites will be forever in their arena and me in mine, but why should that diminish my accomplishments?  I won't allow that to keep me from pursuing my own excellence.

I love those athletes that you pass during a race who shout in your ear "Good Luck!" or "You Go Girl!"  Those are the athletes who get it.  They know that my success, my pursuit of excellence bears no negative affect on their efforts.  Quite the contrary.  Their effort pushes me to be a little faster, a little more agressive than had they not been there.  And so the effort of your "competitors" is directly related to your own success.

When it comes down to it, there are very few of us who strive to WIN when we race.  I'm a decent age grouper , but I'm not looking for prize money anytime soon.  I think the healthiest pursuit is simply to try to improve on past performances, to make a habit of consistent improvement.

I am a week away from my fourth marathon.  My goal is to drop 14 minutes off last year's time, with an even further off goal of eventually qualifying for Boston. But the only thing I can count on for now is this: I will wake up that morning with the same combination of dread and anticipation as I always do.  I will leave the house fantasizing about my return.  I will get to the start line and make small talk with some of my "corral competitors."  Jungle mentality will take over for a moment when the ropes drop, the corrals condense, and the runners jockey for position.  But when the gun goes off and I start my watch, it's not them that I am racing.  I will be racing the numbers 4:03:04.  Because in the end there is no better feeling than crossing the finish line and knowing that you are better than you once were, no matter anyone else's time. And at the end of the day, with muscles full of lactic acid and a heart full of pride, I will know that I am that much closer in my pursuit, 26 miles closer to my own excellence.