ALL OUT

Hi all!

The weather has been absolutely amazing these past few days, and its a reminder of how mood altering it can be after a few cold/cloudy/icy days. Its also a reminder that attitude is everything. If you don't prepare your mind, it will fail you. When your mind fails, you will only accomplish a small fraction of what you are capable of. Athletic coach, Ace Percival, once said, "Most people, athletes as well as non-athletes, are holdouts. That is to say they are always keeping something in reserve." You all know that I am a firm believer that our minds are our greatest enemies when something begins to get difficult.

We've all had the experience of doing something, and immediately saying to ourselves...."I could have done better.." Haha, thats also what makes people addicted and coming back for more. A few months back, my wife committed to run a marathon, her first. She "may" have run 20 miles in an entire week before trying to tackle 26.2 last Saturday. I also ran this particular race, and felt I had prepared almost as poorly with no speed work, tempo runs, and laughable weekly mileage. We had separate goals. Mine was to not embarrass myself, and at least place. I viewed it as a long run. Her goal was to simply finish. After a day of reflection (It takes at least a day after a marathon to say anything except "I will never do that again!"), we both said the same thing. "I could have done better". "Lets actually TRAIN for a marathon and do another."

I believe you have to do that because the taste in your mouth of knowing you "held out" is not a good one, and quickly needs to be replaced by:

I trained hard, smart, and sacrificed much. I had my nutrition dialed in and remained focused on the goal. I toed the starting line prepared, confident, in the zone, and crossed the finish line knowing I had given it my all both mentally and physically.

That can also be a goal for reaching the finish line of life. Don't cross the finish line with reserve fuel in the tank. Don't be a "holdout". GO ALL OUT.

Do this, and life will not hold out on you.