Relentless

“He wasn’t just fast. He was relentless.” This was said about the great runner Bill Rodgers. He won four Boston marathons and four New York City marathons to name a few. Rodgers had this to say about preparation…

To be a consistent winner means preparing not just one day, one month or even one year – but for a lifetime.

If you can find any of his podcasts about running Boston, they are great. He once noted that in his first Boston Marathon, he stopped and walked home as he lived just a few blocks away. The man who would one day exemplify relentlessness, had a DNF in his first Boston Marathon.

But he didn’t quit. He kept on keepin’ on. He trained and prepared. He made each day, each month, and each year count. He joined a track club. He found good training partners. He learned that he was capable.

In a very real sense, he had to learn to be relentless. He had to learn to prepare. He had to learn how to run the race.

I will leave it up to you to draw lessons from this. I think this can benefit all ages of runners and even athletes in other sports. I especially think it can benefit young runners who are growing into the sport.

(This was written on April 14th.)