The Secret
Want to know how to be the best you can be?
What’s the secret? How do you get better at running?
How do you run faster? Run stronger?
You really want to know?
Love. That’s the secret.
Love.
I know that it’s probably cooler to say it’s about guts and that it’s more hard core to say it’s about tolerating pain or running X amount of miles or meters. I know that it’s probably more comfortable for everyone if I just say that it’s your VO2 Max or consistent strength training or incorporating double threshold workouts or simply following a training plan that will lead to true greatness.
I don’t care. It’s love. You wanted the answer. I just gave it.
You want to be great… at anything… then be ready to fall in love with it. You can’t be truly brave without love. You can’t tolerate pain for the right reasons without it. You can’t sacrifice yourself without love. You can’t be willing to risk it all without love. You can’t heal a broken heart without love. You can’t be willing to do more and take on more and hurt more and believe more and be more… without love.
It’s probably cooler to say something else here. I know it sounds soft. And it sounds cheesy too. But when you love something... you tell the truth about it.
And that’s cool enough for me.
Cheers,
Coach Bennett
NOTE: Thank you to John Nepolitan for letting me use the picture above. It’s flat out one of the best pictures I’ve ever seen because it captures what the Trials are all about. It’s about dreams being realized and lived and experienced. It’s about dreams continuing and yes, the Trials are about dreams ending. But more than anything it’s about love. It’s about loving to compete and loving your competition and loving the butterflies and loving this sport. And it’s about loving yourself and who you are right now and right here. That’s what I see when I look at this picture. And that’s why I love The Trials.
SHOT PUT WORLD RECORD HOLDER SHARES MOMENT WITH STRANGE MUSTACHIOED MAN AFTER WINNING OLYMPIC TRIALS
Watch Ryan Crouser battle the great Joe Kovacs for the Olympic Trials Shot Put title. These two are special. And we need to make sure we don’t take their greatness for granted. It’s like Bird and Magic. Martina and Chris. Coe and Ovett. Taylor and Travis. We are lucky to be alive to see them together.
BREAKING NEWS!!!
MJ GETS WALKED DOWN BY MAN WITH AWKWARD MUSTACHE!
Yes, I walked the great Michael Johnson down. Literally. He was walking ahead of me outside Hayward Field after Monday night’s events had ended. Well, I may not be able to run a 200m or 400m as fast as the great MJ. But I can walk faster than he can. I rolled right by him and then quickly asked for a picture. He obliged. Want a little background on just how badass Michael Johnson was/is? Great. Watch this. You just need to click the link to watch it on YouTube. Don’t be dismayed by the “Video Unavailable” screen. The IOC goes out of their way to make it as hard as possible to share the sports that take place at the 5 ringed circus known as the Olympics.
LATEST COACH BENNETT’S PODCAST
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SOME MUST WATCH RACING FROM THE US OLYMPIC TRIALS
Cheers and as always thank you for reading. Whenever I sit down to write my hope is that I can offer something that helps you on your next run or walk or exam you have to take or presentation you need to give or tough conversation you need to have. This sport and this community has helped me more than I could ever help in return. But I’m going to try. Anyway. I hope the time you spend reading the newsletter is time well spent.
Cheers to you and 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 for the post Coach, it was one of the best ever. I live in the UK and was able to watch the embedded videos by turning on the VPN and using an US IP
Love this Coach.