Winning vs. Not Losing

Only twelve more weeks until the Leadville 50 Race.

And the training is getting tough.

Real tough.

The training has consisted of running successive 9-mile round-trip repeats up and down Lookout Mountain Road.

Last week on my 43rd birthday I finally ran 3 repeats--27 total miles.

The farthest I have ever run.

This was after a disastrous run the prior week--a run that left me exhausted.

A run that destroyed my confidence and left me asking myself why I signed up for such a ridiculous event.

A run that humbled me and forced me to confront the big "why."

Why this race?

Why is this important?

I just completed a book called "The Warrior Elite" by former Navy SEAL Dick Couch. A book that profiles SEAL class 228 as they progress through 27 weeks of training.  Training that begins with 114 men and ends with only 20.

At the end of the book, Mr. Couch reflects on the men that made it through the the 27-week raining and the men who did not.  He concludes the following:

"I personally have come to believe the single trait that will get a man through BUD/S is the will to win.  The desire to win is different from refusing to lose, or not quitting.  A man can get through BUD/S  by refusing to quit....but he will not be a leader--a "go-to" guy in his SEAL platoon.  BUD/S cultivates this will to win, but to one degree or another, top trainees bring it with them when they walk through the door..."

In no way am I comparing Navy SEAL training to training for the Leadville 50 race.

But the mentality that is required to complete Navy SEAL training is instructive.

Achieving any big goal requires the desire to WIN.

Not simply the desire to not LOSE.

In other words, every fiber your body and mind must be focused on looking up the mountain at the goal of summitting.

And not cautiously looking down the mountain to prevent falling.

It's playing aggressive offense.

Instead of fearful defense.

So here is the question:

What is the one thing in your life that you want to win?

NEED to win.

Can't NOT win?

Perhaps it saving your family's house from foreclosure.

Or landing that job that was meant for you.

Or saving your teenage son from addiction.

Or crossing the finish line of that first marathon.

In my opinion, a person who wants something more than breathing and life itself is a person who is unstoppable.

For that single-minded, laser focused mind-set will get a guy through the tough days.

And there will be plenty of tough days.

The kind of days that require remembering that succeeding means wanting to win...

And not just wanting to not lose.

My running partner and I are planning 3.5 repeats up Lookout Mountain next week--32 glorious miles.

Miles that will be achieved by eating right, sleeping right, and drinking lots of water.

But the real means of getting up that mountain all those times will not be our ability to run the miles..

It will be our ability to come up with a REASON run the miles.

A big reason.

Like the desire to WIN.

And not simply, not lose.

AMJ