Pay Off

Whoever said 'patience is a virtue' had to be an unstressed, noncompetitive person. If you're like me, and Violet Bouregard, you want it and you want it NOW, Daddy! But it's the virtuous ones that get the payoff in the end. Not that I'm virtuous, but I did learn a lesson.

The tiny island of Coronado hosted their annual Independence Day 15K run last weekend, and I and several of the Gorilla Multisport coaches were there to represent. Since my disastrous run in Minnesota just two weeks earlier, I was in no mood to attempt any sort of record-breaking performance. But in the back of my mind I thought I'd love to beat my last year's time.

And beat it I did. I ran a faster pace than I had ever, even in my wildest dreams, thought was possible for me. I PR'd by eight minutes -- a minute plus per mile faster than I had ever run ...ever! I was ecstatic!

I realized, once again, that hard work pays off. But more than ever, you need to be patient. Success will come if you've put in the hard work. Don't give up. Keep trying. I promise in the end, it will all be worth it.