A Message to the Underdog

You are not defeated.  The game is not over.  The buzzer has not sounded.  Are you ready to admit defeat so easily?  There are 70 year old men climbing Mt. Everest right now.  There are soldiers with prosthetic legs running marathons.  There are women fighting breast cancer and walking arm and arm across a finish line with their beautiful sisters.  There are single mothers trying to finish their college degree while working two jobs. 

There you are: lying on the canvas as the champion stands above you, the ref is counting you out. I have been on that canvas.  The only direction to look is up. The only place you want to stay is down. But I thought about being down and it is not the place I want to be. I am climbing to my feet.  I am not giving up.

You think this battle is against everyone else?  You really think anyone cares who crosses the finish line first? This battle is against yourself. It always has been.  You run at your own speed.  You move at your own pace.  It doesn’t matter if you crawl across the finish line---arms bleeding, feet calloused and blistered.   You are your own personal trainer.  You are your own motivational speaker. You are your own cheerleader.  You are the one that makes it happen.  No one is going to run for you.  It is up to you. Are you going to give up; stay on the mat and in the gutter with the other poor unforgiven souls?  Those who wallow in their own self pity.  Those who pass the blame and give everyone else the regrets they should carry on their own back.

I know it’s not easy.  There will be pain and tears along the way, but many joys as well. You are Columbus kissing the ground upon arrival to the new world.  You are a miner saved from a deep well of darkness.  You are Nelson Mandela arising from his filthy prison.  You are Martin Luther King, Jr. expressing his dream.  You are the smiling scientist accepting a Nobel Prize.  You are a recovering addict watching the sunrise after a year of sobriety.  You are the mountain climber who empathically pounds his stake at the top of the mountain.

Defeat is not in your vocabulary.  The finish line is always in front.  Your eye is always on the prize. Run as if you want to win.

Oh by the way, this is not just about running.  This is about living.  Join the race.

Sincerely,

You