“Some men give up their designs when they have almost reached the goal, while others, on the contrary, obtain a victory by exerting, at the last moment, more vigorous efforts than ever before.” ~Herodotus, The Histories

Those old Greeks knew a thing or two.

The last bit of anything can be the most challenging. You might think that if you can see the goal line, it’s all fun and games…but how many times have you seen someone (or been someone) who just didn’t find anything in the tank in the last 50 meters? And outside athletics, how hard is it for you to do one more proof of an important term paper? Or have one more practice run of the summary presentation you make at the end of a long summer internship? Or run through some flashcards one more time before a big test? Or log off your phone early so you get one more hour of sleep before a final exam or the SCVAL championship race?

Look, I know, the day after day of effort over a period of months (or years) to get to an SCVAL championship requires a ton of grit, as does the work to become fluent in Japanese, or score a 5 on the AP-Calc exam, or get into your dream college. But still, that last bit…oooof…that shows a lot.

So, when I watched Sifan Hassan this morning running the marathon, I was thinking about Herodotus*.

That last bit matters. Some people have it, and for some, it comes harder. Sifan Hassan has that desire down to her bones! You could see it as she banged elbows with Tigst Assefa in the last kilometer as they weaved towards the finish. Sifan was not going to be denied! Think about this…

  • Sifan Hassan came to the Netherlands as a refugee.
  • Sifan had already won bronze medals in the 5,000 m and the 10,000 m races; she ran the 5,000 final LAST NIGHT!
  • She had to run an Olympic record time to win the marathon, on a hot and hilly course.

Sifan said that for the first half of the race, all she could think about was that she regretted running the two other races. Each step felt like a struggle. The lead pack kept chasing paces, pushing ahead, and a couple of times, she fell off a bit, as much as four seconds behind, by my guess. She said that she thought the leaders were going to pull away.

But they could not drop Sifan. She would not give up, and she kept coming back.

I hope you are as inspired, as I am, to rededicate ourselves to finishing what we start, to putting in the effort all the way to the end of what is important to us, in academics, and athletics, and elsewhere.

See you at practice Monday, August 12 at 7 a.m.; practice will start at 7 all week.

*Yes, your coach is a nerd.