"Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit." (Vince Lombardi) As a middle schooler, my mother wouldn’t let me play tackle football. I figured I’d be able to talk her out of it prior to entering high school. I guess I overestimated my lawyering skills. About a week before the start of my freshman year, she told me that she’d been talking with the cross-country coach. Mr. Peacock would be willing to let me join the team despite missing the summer workouts. I was a basketball player and I associated running with punishment. Reluctantly, I decided to join the team since it might help me get in better shape for basketball. That first year was embarrassing. I was terrible. I lost track of how many girls beat me when we had co-ed meets. Other than the normal problems of a pimple appearing on my face right before school, getting beat by a girl was about as embarrassing as it got for a teenage boy. Anyway, a decision had to be made that off-season…quit, or take it seriously. That summer, I became committed, running hundreds of miles, entering road races every weekend, and taking an active leadership role on the cross-country team. I went from being one of the worst runners on the team to qualifying for the state finals as a Sophomore. I’m glad that I stuck with the sport even though it was difficult and embarrassing at times. I joke about getting beat by girls, but my real motivation was I wanted to be the best I was capable of being. I never dreamed of winning races or awards. I just knew I wasn’t living up to my potential and that bugged me. Even though it would take hard work and sacrifice, I would rather go through that than have a lifetime of knowing I quit on something just because it was difficult. Aristotle used to say, “We are what we repeatedly do, therefore excellence is not an act but rather a habit.” We all have habits in life. These habits are developed as a result of our daily choices. The legendary football coach Vince Lombardi used to say, “Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit.” We’ll either make quitting our habit or we’ll make perseverance our habit. . . . #CrossCountryRunner #JonesvilleComets #VinceLombardi #Aristotle #DontQuit https://www.instagram.com/p/CkOm9P0O-JV/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
