Steve Prefontaine was an American middle and long distance Olympic runner who broke multiple records in his short life. He was credited as the inspiration behind much of the running boom of the 1970's. After his tragic death in 1975, runners across the nation mourned the loss of this positive, humble man. I can thank my High School Track coaches for introducing me to the legend that is Steve Prefontaine's legacy. They would tell us to "Live Like Pre." For many runners like myself, Pre's motivational quotes tend to cross the mind often because they ring so true when it comes to relating to real life.
One of my favorite Pre quotes is "To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift." Now I'm sure you can imagine how this sounded coming from the mouth of a single, weird, middle-aged high school gym teacher/track coach. It was usually shouted at us as we ran by him on our warm-up lap in a strained voice. If you could mange a quick look as you ran by, you would notice the blood vessel popping out of his forehead from behind his thick, yellowed glasses. But since I've done some growing up since high school, I've come to realize that this quote goes way beyond just being a motivation to keep running. I interpret this quote as, if you give anything less than your best in your task at hand, you are essentially just selling yourself short. You must always believe in yourself and know that you have the potential to achieve anything goal you can dream up. You are capable of doing great things with this life, and you shouldn't rob the world of your talents.
I titled this blog The Extra Mile so that I could have the opportunity to share some of my own personal inspiration with you all. I encourage anyone reading this looking for a new inspirational figure to learn about to look into Steve Prefontaine. For a quick biography, click here!
No comments:
Post a Comment