"the man who's face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"

Theodore Roosevelt said: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” 

Teddy is one of my favorite all time heroes. He was called by many to be the last "true romantic" in the sense of being a true man. His mindset to not complain no matter the circumstances, his extremely hard work ethic, and his never ending pursuit of perfection or the desire to be the best has I think carried over to my track experiences. 

I recently made the controversial statement that track is the hardest sport to compete in. I got a lot of people arguing about the fact that golf, baseball, or swimming, or even weight lifting is harder or just as difficult as track. Golf and baseball require immense amounts of skill, but honestly neither of them require much sweat, blood, mental toughness, or inner drive. Weight lifting is basically how much weight can you lift. A lift of professional or even amateur weight lifters  use steroids to build up muscle mass, and the sport requires a lot of mental toughness and inner drive, but there isn't much talent required. Swimming is probably the closest sport to track. These athletes must have an inner drive; they must have some significant amount of talent and a mental toughness, but most of all they possess something deep down that is always pushing them to their utmost limits. These athletes are continually trying to find some way to knock their time down, get stronger, whatever....there is never an ending point. The only thing that I think separates track from swimming is the fact that in swimming everything is for the most part consistently regulated. Track on the other hand has to deal with the weather, heat, and wind which can drastically effect performances. In track I've learned that with a consistent complaining comes failure and disappointment. No matter how hard the workouts become, no matter how bad you feel, no matter how terrible it hurts, if you push yourself to your mental limits a little more each time great things will happen eventually. 

I love track. I love the joys that come with success, but I also love the disappointment of failure. That probably sounds retarded but its true. I'm about in the middle to lower middle of talent in the world of track, and I've only recently realized that with failure comes determination, re-dedication, and a hopefulness of a better race the next time. Mohammad Ali said: "Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win." I've realized that the only way I can ever hope to reach the top is to keep trying and learn from my failures. Ali is talking about that inner strength and determination that is required of these athletes who have known what it means to have done all they can but not understand why they failed to reach the goals set for themselves. This inner strength and God is the only thing that has helped me get through these disappointments. But what I've come to realize is that these trials build character and with character almost anything is possible. Track provides perfect examples of what life should be all about. Many times I pray before workouts just to be able to finish. Track is hard, if it's not then you're not running hard enough. The hard work instills in us a drive to never give up, never back down, never give in. Life is often very closely related to track in the fact that its painful, it requires dedication, and it builds character which is the only way one can survive life on earth. And for the most part this is true for most any sport.

I think I've figured out why I love track so much...its because it continually offers me to display my talents. It requires that toughness of being a man. It takes lots of blood, sweat, and pain. The disappointments offer no excuses because the blame of failure rests solely on my shoulders, but the rewards for the hard work are tremendous. The exhilaration of running in a stadium at Nationals is like nothing else I've ever experienced. The thrills of coming from behind and winning the race is amazing. Like Pistol Pete was always saying: "put on a show...one that the fans will never forget" is the memorable experience I'll ever experience. Not only does track provide thrills and emotional highs, but I see how much of a success at life will be by how far I will be able and willing to push myself.