Finish Strong
The year, the month, the day, the race, the run, the interval, the story.
Finish strong! I love when I hear someone yell that at a runner. Finish… strong! Now that’s something someone can hear, process, and then put into action. It’s a physical call to arms, sure. But it’s so much more than driving your arms. It’s mindful, emotional, heck, it’s spiritual! FINISH STRONG! I just love it. I rarely hear it though. Usually, there at the end of a race I hear the classics. You know, things like:
Go faster!
Pass them!
You need to go!
Pick it up!
Sprint!
Ugh. Really? You think that’s what the runner wants to hear? Sprint? That’s what you came up with? Sprint? Here I am at the end of the race… and according to you I must not be sprinting… I thought I was sprinting… with battery acid coursing through my veins and my legs filling with what can only be described as some weird combination of a sweet and sugary and most likely delicious but impossibly thick molasses and some liquid concrete that’s quickly hardening. Did I mention I’m breathing fire? Breathing in fire to be precise. I didn’t? Well, I am. And breathing out fire is by far more enjoyable when it comes to breathing and fire. By the way, where did all the oxygen go? And you want me to… sprint? Really? Are you watching me? Do you think Sprint! is what this runner needs to hear?
Yeah, that’s what I thought.
Now, you yell out Finish Strong to someone… and you’re going to get a reaction. Why? because that’s something that everyone can do. That’s something you can add on to whatever you are already doing. Finish Strong is measurable and immeasurable at the same time. It’s a feeling. It’s a vibe. It’s a way of thinking. It’s something you can do on a good day and something you can do just as well if not even better on a not so good day. It’s a way to cap off a great race or run and it’s a way to save a crap one. To Finish Strong is to acknowledge that you are strong. To Finish Strong is to maintain control or even take back control. To Finish Strong is to own the moments, the minutes, meters there at the end. And since every finish line is just a starting line in disguise I guess this means you own your next starting line too.
So, here at the end of 2024 I hope you excuse me for not yelling out the classics to all of you. I’m not going to waste your time or my voice screaming Sprint or Faster! Instead, let me raise my voice and cheer for you to Finish Strong. And after you’ve recovered from this latest lap around the sun and spent the time you need to spend celebrating and consolidating all that you’ve learned from that lap… I’ll meet you on the starting line for the new year. Ready to start 2025 the way we finished 2024.
Strong.
Cheers,
Coach Bennett
DEAR FUTURE
Dear Future,
We don’t know each other. Weird, right? I mean...
I think about you all the time. And we’ve never even met. In fact, every time I feel like we’re close to meeting... you stay just out of reach. It’s always been like this. But not anymore. I’m not done with you. I just found somebody else.
Their name is the Present. They never leave my side. And they’re always ready
to work with me. Honestly, when I’m with The Present...I feel most alive. The Present doesn’t care who I was or wasn’t or who I might or might not become. The Present wants to be with who I am now. And no matter how fast or slow I move The Present keeps up. Nothing like The Past. Do you remember The Past?
Remember when I told you about all that time I was spending with The Past? That’s right… you weren’t there when I was talking. Anyway, The Past is so frustrating. No matter what I did The Past couldn’t keep up and it always wanted me to keep falling further and further back and stay with it. That’s why I ended up leaving the Past behind. Gone but not forgotten. We shouldn’t forget The Past. Do that and we’ll end up right back there again... frustrated and falling behind right along with it.
Well, Future, I just wanted you to know that I won’t be spending so much time thinking about you anymore. I’m with the Present now. I think that’s what’s best for me. And... Future... it’s what’s best for you too.
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KINDNESS IS HARDCORE
I got a few DM’s over the last couple of weeks asking where Kindness Is Hardcore came from? Here you go… I once got told that I was too kind to my athletes. The person that told me this was a successful coach. I can’t deny that. But they should have been more successful. Their athletes ran on fear. Their athletes saw practices as obligations and races as stressful anxiety ridden tests. Making varsity for those teams was cutthroat. For so many of his athletes their brief time in the sport felt like a lifetime.
I coached athletes differently. I believed that if I could get an athlete to fall in love with the sport, and love their teammates, and love themselves then I could get them to run and train harder than anyone else could. I believed that love was a far better fuel than hate or fear. I believed that rather than the our time together feeling like a lifetime this sport should be a lifetime endeavor. That meant I needed to make sure they enjoyed this experience. I needed them to want to be a part of this thing we were doing and not apart from it. I felt that this was the best way to get them to be their best and if they were their best they would run their best. I was right then. And I’m right now. But to this other coach my coaching was too kind. And to him that was a sign of weakness.
I can understand how someone on the outside can mistake kindness for weakness. But understanding why someone is wrong doesn’t make what they think any more right. Kindness is not a sign of weakness. It’s not easy to be kind. You want to know what is easy though? Being a jerk is easy. Being impatient is easy. Not believing in people is easy. Being selfish is easy. Humiliating someone is easy. Being a bully is easy.
It doesn’t take a strong person to tear another person down. But it takes real strength to lift someone up. It doesn’t takes any courage to shine the spotlight on someone else after a loss. But it takes real self-confidence to shine the spotlight on someone else after a shared victory. You’re not hardcore when you diminish someone’s efforts when they are trying their best. You’re a coward.
You see, being a great coach isn’t about being critical when an athlete makes a mistake. It’s not about yelling and screaming and scaring the hell out of your athletes under the guise of teaching them. Being a great coach is about getting the best out of your athletes. It’s about service. It’s about teaching. It’s about showing up again and again for your athletes. It’s about believing in your athletes even when they don’t… especially when they don’t… believe in themselves. And yes, it’s about holding them accountable and challenging them and pushing them in the hopes that they will be closer to their best after having spent time with you. More than anything though it’s about making sure these athletes need you… the coach… less and less with every practice. Because the goal… the ultimate goal… is that they become their own best coaches. And maybe, just maybe, they become a coach for someone else. And no one deserves a coach that is a coward. No one deserves a coach that is a bully. No one deserves a coach that isn’t hardcore enough to be kind.
I told that coach that he wasn’t there for the day in and day out conversations I had with my athletes. He wasn’t aware of the stress and trials that each of my athletes dealt with. He was ignorant of the demands I placed on them daily and the adjustments we made to push or pull back. Basically, I told him that he didn’t know what he was talking about. I told him that being an a$$hole to athletes was not hardcore. It was lazy. It was soft. It was a sign of weakness. I said being kind… being kind is what’s really hardcore.
And as I walked away I told him that maybe if he was more hardcore with his own runners they might be able to one day stay up with mine.
You can check out the Kindness Is Hardcore gear here.
Well, that’s that. Thank you for reading. Thank you for being cool and kind. How do I know you’re both? You can’t be cool unless you’re kind and if you’re kind… you’re cool. That’s how.
Cheers to you and one more thanks to everyone that’s a paid supporter of this newsletter or thinking about becoming a paid supporter. I truly appreciate it.
Take care of yourself and take care of each other.
Until that next starting line…
Coach Bennett
Thank you to everyone for reading the latest newsletter! I hope you found the issue… wait for it… finished strong. 💪
I love this column.
May all the Bennetts and their following have a healthy, safe, peaceful New Year.
P.S. Come visit Jeff next summer (or earlier)!