Grinders

In the last 24 hours, I've witnessed two events that celebrate the fortitude of the human spirit and how sheer willpower can help us achieve our goals. I don't watch much hockey and like most sports I believe the season is too long. Last night, however, was a remarkable game and feat by the Philadelphia Flyers. In the Eastern Conference semi-finals (2nd round of the playoffs), the Flyers found themselves down three games to none in the best of seven series. In other words, they were one game away from elimination. The Flyers fought back to tie the series and traveled to Boston for the final game. Ironically found themselves down 3 -0 after 15 minutes. As many of you know, the Flyers came back with four answered goals to win the game and the series. How improbable is that you ask? In the history of all major league sports, baseball, football, hockey, basketball, it has been done exactly three times prior to last night. The last time was in 2004 when the Red Sox came back to beat the Yankees.

This morning, I volunteered at the local Kennett Square (PA) Run. It's an annual event with nearly 3,000 runners and walkers participating. My job was to make sure cars didn't leave a neighborhood on the route. Often, it's a dangerous job, but I'm happy to report no incidents! My post was just short of the four mile mark at the top of a long incline. This was a 10K or 6.2 mile race. The first runners appeared to hardly exert an effort, though their pace was lower than 5 minutes/mile. The rest of the field was an assortment of athletes of all shapes and sizes-literally. I'm not sure the body is made to run like some of the folks did. Bottom line, they all made it up the hill and persevered. They may not have been going fast, but they were going. For many, it was a very difficult challenge. I saw a lot of grit and determination. As the last two persons jockeyed for the last spot, I wasn't sure if they appreciated their effort or were embarrassed to be at the end of the race followed by a police car. I hope they appreciated their effort.

In both cases, the effort to meet the goal was a circuitous one. Flyers coach Peter Laviolette summed up their journey by saying "It's not the ideal path, but its our path." No one wants to lose the first three games, but sometimes it happens. You can't always control events, but you can control your reaction to them. How hard are you willing to work to reach your goal? What happens if unanticipated obstacles get in your way? Do you grind through it or give up? Many of us give up just before we succeed. Perhaps the runners in Kennett Square and the Flyers can show us how to grind it out.