Mental Toughness

You're at the point of your race, workout, or life where you come to a crossroad and have a few choices
- fight through the pain and finish strong
- dog it and just finish
- quit

The easy choice, is to quit.  The physical pain will subside quickly and you'll walk away feeling disappointed. The emotional pain won't go away easily and it will linger in the back of your mind.  Clearly, this is not the best choice.


Another option is to half-ass it the rest of the way.  You're not quitting, but you're not giving it your all.  This is the point where excuses start to run through your mind.   "what am I doing here"?, "why did I sign up for this"?, "why do I subject myself to this misery"?  "I'm not built for this type of thing"?  You start to unravel and become unfocused on what you're trying to accomplish.  You'll make it to the end, but you're not going to be fulfilled with the outcome.

The best option, but the hardest, is to fight through the pain and finish strong.  This takes focus, the ability to harness the pain as strength, and true grit.  Some people are really good at doing this, and some have opportunities for improvement.  You need to put away the distractions, the "noise" in your head that is telling you to quit, slow down, or back off and continue to hammer away.  Focus all your energy and visualize that end goal or finish line.  Finish 1st or last, you've won.  You had the ability to overcome your perceived limitations and defeated your biggest competitor, yourself.  By leaving it all out on the course you'll have instantaneous gratification and a high that can't be replicated by any drug. 

The best part of it all, is that you can apply this to every aspect of your life.