The race begins in Squaw Valley, California near the site of the 1960 Winter Olympics. It ends 100.2 miles later in Auburn, California. It is the Western States 100 Mile Run. In the decades since its inception in 1974 it has come to represent one of the ultimate endurance tests in the world.
One competitor stated it this way, “Every runner has at least one point in the race, maybe more, where they’re so low they think, ‘What is the point? Why Am I doing this?’ And there has to be something that overrides that and makes you want to finish!” What is that something? It is persistence.
Years ago I heard a statement attributed to the motivational speaker Charlie ‘Tremendous’ Jones. He said, “It is okay to want to quit just as long as you don’t quit.” I have reminded myself of this may times.
You see persistence is wanting to…
give up, but not;
quit, but not;
make excuses, but not;
blame others, but not;
stop short, but not
Persistence is something you decide to do. You determine to complete the course you set out on. Stuart Scott, the late ESPN host of Sports Center, died of cancer at age 49. In 2014 he was presented the Jimmy V Persistence Award. In his acceptance speech he said, “When you die, that does not mean you lose to cancer. You beat cancer by how you live, why you live and in the manner in which you lived.”
Stuart completed his course. He persisted in his life to the very end. And when he died he hadn’t lost. He had actually won by the life he lived.
American writer Harold Sherman, in his “The Code of Persistence,” wrote:
1. I will never give up so long as I am right.
2. I will believe that all things will work out for me if I hang on to the end.
3. I will be courageous and undismayed in the face of poor odds.
4. I will not permit anyone to intimidate or deter me from my goals.
5. I will fight to overcome all physical handicaps and setbacks.
6. I will try again and again and yet again to accomplish what I desire.
7. I will take new faith and resolution from the knowledge that all successful men and women have had to fight defeat and adversity.
8. I will never surrender to discouragement or despair no matter what seeming obstacles may confront me.
Where do you need to persistent? Make the choice and don’t give up.