Contemplate This!

Perhaps some of you may recall a book published many years ago entitled,The Quotable Runner. What follows is a take-off  on that format called,The Quotable Stotan, which is geared towards those who live for the run. An effort was made to print quotes that were not familiar to most.
Here goes:

Marty Liquori from Real Running by Marty Liquori and John L. Parker Jr., "There are no secrets to running success,anyone who says there are is probably trying to sell you something."

How true! If more runners realized this then most of the running books and seminars published and held during the last 20 years would have made very little money.

Percy Cerutty from his book Middle Distance Running, "Suffering and dedication is the only way to understanding,compassion and courage."

Very profound. What the man says is true,but, only if the athlete is a thinker and open to the idea that what you gain from a workout is more than something purely physical.

Herb Elliott from,The Golden Mile, "The purifying quality of pain that has to be suffered is like that in confession. You walk away with a clear conscience."

In the same vein as what his coach said above,once again,the athlete must be.......

Yiannis Kouros from an interview by Trishul Cherns, "Each horrid event should equip you with the necessary provisions so that you can confront the next one; it shouldn't make you yield. The continuous confirmation is that despair and hopelessness supply you with the means--inconceivable at first, and make you discover hidden unexpected powers. Later, an unhoped for tranquility and sobriety should follow so that you may pursue your goals with precision."

Yiannis is a living example of the truth of those words.The key here is not to drive from your mind the details of disappointing performances once they're over. They can be stepping stones towards future success.

Ted Williams from,My Turn at Bat:The Story of My Life by Ted Williams, "Nobody in the history of the game hit more balls in practice,pleasure or dead earnest than I did."

Some may think it odd that I placed a quote from one of the greatest hitters ever in baseball, but, to attain success in any sport you must do more than most who say they desire success are willing to do.However, as you will read next,it is not all work and drudgery.

Ron Clarke from The Unforgiving Minute, "The number of miles I have run since I was a toddler would have taken me around the world several times and still I cannot define precisely my joy in running. There is no sacrifice in it."

As Cerutty once wrote, there are no sacrifices in the quest for success (refer to my prior post featuring Percy's essay--On Sacrifice.

Percy Cerutty from the essay, What It Takes to Be a Champion, "In the ultimate, if you are to succeed,you must believe in the worth-whileness of your goals,find the means to attain them,and do the essential work, make the personal effort."

There it is in a nutshell,the formula for achieving success.I find the key in this quote to be,"you must believe in the worth-whileness of your goals." Those who do believe will not give up easily.

Arthur Newton,ultra great wrote: "Many of the ordinary pleasures of life have to be banished for a long time while you are preparing for a peak achievement."

If you really desire success in sport, then you cannot always live like those who don't. This is an often ignored aspect.

Percy Cerutty, "Running as I teach it is not a sport or a physical activity so much as a complete expression of ourselves,physical,mental and spiritual."

In closing,something by Sri Chinmoy,something that we should never forget, "You can do infinitely more than you have already done."

Consider and contemplate the above--the wisdom comes from those who have achieved success, and you can to......IF--- you really want it!