The answer to the big questions in running is the same as the answer to the big questions in life: Do the best with what you've got.
George A. SheehanRead
The key then is to find your own mountain, otherwise you will be competing with people who are not even in your event, and running up against the 'shoulds' and 'oughts' of that world, and the inevitable frustration and depression and feelings of failure. A person can be complete or incomplete, but one thing is sure, he cannot be someone else.
Interpretation
Find your own path in life to avoid unnecessary comparisons and frustrations.
This quote emphasizes the importance of self-discovery and pursuing personal goals rather than measuring oneself against others. George A. Sheehan suggests that by striving to be authentic and focusing on our individual journeys, we can avoid feelings of inadequacy and dissatisfaction that arise from societal expectations and comparisons with others.
In practice
In a motivational speech about following personal passions.
The answer to the big questions in running is the same as the answer to the big questions in life: Do the best with what you've got.
Running makes you an athlete in all areas of life...trained in the basics, prepared for whatever comes, ready to fill each hour and deal with the decisive moment.
The distance runner is mysteriously reconciling the separations of body and mind, of pain and pleasure, of the conscious and the unconscious. He is repairing the rent, and healing the wound in his divided self. He has found a way to make the ordinary extraordinary; the commonplace unique; the everyday eternal.
No matter how old I get, the race remains one of life's most rewarding experiences. My times become slower and slower, but the experience of the race is unchanged: each race a drama, each race a challenge, each race stretching me in one way or another, and each race telling me more about myself and others.
The more I run, the more I want to run, and the more I live a life conditioned and influenced and fashioned by my running. And the more I run, the more certain I am that I am heading for my real goal: to become the person I am.
What I would say to young entrepreneurs is there's so many moments in your life where you have these dreams, and people are trying to protect you, and they say, perhaps, friends, family, parents sometimes, they don't agree with it, they think, 'This is just too high of a hurdle.' And I don't agree with that.
Walk that walk and go forward all the time. Don't just talk that talk, walk it and go forward. Also, the walk didn't have to be long strides; baby steps counted too. Go forward.
If you don’t enjoy it, don’t do it. You must love what you do.
Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.
I don't go to bed at 1 A.M. and wake up at 5 A.M. and say, 'Let's see if I can get this done today.'
In the game of life, before you get anything out, you must put something in!
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