“Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit.”—Vince Lombardi
I’ve quit twice in my life, and both times I felt absolutely miserable for a long period of time afterwards. In both cases, I also gained a deep understanding of myself and came away motivated to never feel that way again.
The first of those experiences came when I was still in high school, trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I’d been racing motocross for a while and even though I had managed to seriously injure myself on more than one occasion, I was still pondering the idea of turning professional.
One day, my friend Dave Kelleher—who was a professional motocross rider—told me that if I wanted to get serious about racing, I needed to start training. I respected his opinion, but wasn’t sure what he was getting at.
“Training? What do you mean, Dave? I’m at the track all the time.” I asked a bit incredulously.
“I’m talking about physical training,” he answered. “Working out. I run ten miles, three times a week.”
At that point, I’d never run in my life. I hadn’t even considered it, or how it could help me with racing motorcycles. But, I eagerly agreed to join Dave for a workout and the next morning I met him at his house in New Haven, Connecticut. Dave had measured a one- mile loop in his neighborhood that he ran ten times. I completed the first mile with him at a leisurely pace, but really did not enjoy it. Throughout that first mile I was feeling a bit uncomfortable with my legs and lungs crying for relief. The second mile was worse than the first and by mile three, I was breathing harder than ever. I thought I was going to throw up so I just quit running, plopped down on the grass and I watched David push himself to complete the ten mile run. Every mile he looked more and more exhausted.
When Dave passed on his sixth mile, I said to myself, I’m watching a professional motocross racer get fitter and stronger, and I’m just sitting here on the grass because I’m a quitter and don’t know how to push myself. As I watched him complete the tenth, and final lap, I felt completely pathetic. I asked myself, how am I going to become good at anything if when I start to feel a little uncomfortable I just quit? It was a damn good question.
The next day, I started running and working out. It became my new mission in life to improve my physical conditioning and every night, I spent hours lifting weights in my bedroom with the Rolling Stones or Black Sabbath blaring through my headphones. I’d try to do a continuous set of a particular exercise—curls, bench presses, overhead presses, push-ups, or sit-ups to an individual song without stopping.
A couple of months later I went back to work out with Dave, and this time I was able to stay with him. It felt great, not only because I ran as fast as my friend who I respected so much, but because I had come so far in such a short period of time. I also learned that I loved exercising and pushing my body to its limits, which I was only just starting to discover.
Four months after that, I ran the Boston Marathon. It was painful as hell, but I promised myself that I wouldn’t stop running until I crossed the finish line. Bill Rodgers won the race that year with a time of two hours, nine minutes, and fifty-five seconds. I did cross the finish line, but in a time of three hours and forty-four minutes.
I told myself that at least I’d finished and just as I promised myself, I did not walk at any point throughout the race. I had run the entire length of one of the most prestigious marathons in the world. But I wasn’t content with my performance and knew I could get better. I was determined to get stronger and faster. I trained hard every day. A month later, when I ran a second marathon, my time was down to 3:33. By the time I ran my third marathon, I shaved an additional seventeen minutes off my time and finished in the top 20 percent. A month later, I clocked in at three hours and six minutes.
My next goal was to beat three hours. A couple weeks after that, I did, crossing the finish line at two hours, fifty minutes. I ended up running thirty marathons or ultra-marathons in just three years. That’s a blistering pace for any athlete. It was about then that I realized something very important: if you push yourself hard enough, you can accomplish things you didn’t think you were capable of. Maybe even great things.
This excerpt is taken from “Reaching Beyond Boundaries: A Navy SEAL’s Guide to Achieving Everything You’ve Ever Imagined” by Don Mann and Kraig Becker.
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