Dean's blog entry goes on: "When you do make it, you forever prove to yourself that with focus and gritty doggedness, you have what it takes to accomplish great things. And you recognize that it all started with a single baby step, with having the courage to try, with having the bravery to keep putting one foot in front of the other and not stopping until you’ve reached your goal."Having just recently completed another LA Marathon, this time along with the wondrous Long Beach Team in Training group, I know that Dean's words are grounded in truth—and lots of experience.
Runner-philosopher George Sheehan once wrote, “There are those of us who are always about to live. We are waiting until things change, until there is more time, until we are less tired, until we get a promotion, until we settle down . . . until, until, until. It always seems as if there is some major event that must occur in our lives before we begin living.”
Sheehan was right on the money. Most of us are waiting. Standing at the starting line, tapping our toe impatiently. Waiting for someone—or something—to make us do what we secretly know we can do. What we yearn to do: to live beyond taking “risks.” To participate in the game of life at the level we know, deep inside, we can. To live in taking “trusts.” To live fully, creatively, and heroically.
What carries a dream in reality? Action. Consistent action over time. One step in front of the other. Just like a marathon. But to earn the right to participate in the marathon in and of itself takes discipline and preparation. As many an athlete and coach has noted, the will to win is nothing more than the will to prepare.
"The meek shall inherit the earth," is one of the better known Biblical quotations. Countless lives have been lived in the shadows as a result. But in a recent gathering of Master Coach Steve Chandler's Mastermind group , he shared a nugget of information that turns this quote on its head. Scholars are now taking a new look at the word translated as 'meek' and saying that it might more accurately be translated as 'disciplined.'"
"The disciplined shall inherit the earth," has a whole different feel to it, doesn't it. Small steps consistently taken over time can produce enormous results. Ask any marathoner. And you can't fake that.
More importantly, once you cross the finish line, you realize that you'd never want to fake it or cut corners. Because the sweetness celebration that comes with crossing any finish line—in running or in life—is built not just from the mileage of the race, but from the very first step of preparation. Before that even, it is built in the willingness to say "Yes!" to the idea, to life itself.
Happy trails!
