Why Do People Quit Right Before They Would Have Succeed - Human Nature I Suppose

Today, I talked with a gal who was in one of the local cycling clubs and she lamented to me about how she was riding a "Double" and there were significant hills involved. What is a 'double' you ask? Well, it is a 200-miles or 200-kilometers (120 miles). So, it's not for wimps and being a woman, that's a long way on a bicycle, and the routes are often designed by masochists who try to bury the riders in their own blood, sweat and tears. Nice huh? Hardcore cyclists are a little nuts but these endurance riders compete for bragging rights - got the T-shirt? Show me.

In any case, in this mountainous kick-your-ass cycling event with so many hills and so much climbing, you can understand she rode her body into the ground, and on the last hill, which she didn't know, she just couldn't go on any further, she had "bonked" out. Bonking Out is when your body is totally depleted and you just cannot go on. You are too tired to get off the bike, too tired to keep going and you know if you get off, you won't be able to get back on. It's like hitting the wall in a marathon, you don't have anything left, running on guts, literally, your body starts looking for energy anywhere it can find it, including burning fat, muscle or finding energy where ever it can, it starts shutting things down.

'All Hail' the endurance athlete running, or cycling on pure will, adrenaline, and guts - proving they are good enough, that they will not quit, but sometimes the mind and will-power cannot cash the checks the athlete has written, and it is a hard lesson. Turns out this gal didn't know that was the last hill and she was ALMOST there, "so close and yet so far!" And yet, it seems this story has been written before, far too many times. Yes, in my own life as well, there have been times where I'd quit, and chastised myself later, because I was so damn close to achieving and success. Nothing teaches us quicker than reflecting on such pain and regret.

Winston Churchill was right; never, ever, ever give up, EVER!

Nothing good in life is easy, if it were, everyone would be doing it, but they aren't are they? There are not that many hardcore endurance athletes but there are enough that we may all know of one, perhaps a friend of a friend who is so relentless in their pursuits that they've overcome the overpowering pain screaming from their muscles and body to quit. Let's salute them, and let's learn from their adversity as the beat that force to stop, and continue to victory. Only then can we follow in their footsteps or pedal rotations. Think on this.

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