Bill Bradley of the Knicks, in speaking of his months of pre-season training, said, "I didn't buy the argument that I was going to lose because I wasn't working hard enough. I might lose because I wasn't fast enough. I might lose because I wasn't tall enough. But I wasn't going to lose because I wasn't ready."
For me, the purpose of training has a very specific goal -- to literally climb a mountain. Whether I can accomplish that goal is yet to be determined. My only role is to prepare for that challenge.
For the ancient Greeks, the race was called the agon. They knew that, in life, there was a race to be won. But there was also a defeat to be risked. How well I know that. In August, my real opponent will not be the terrain or the elevation or the steepness of the mountain. My opponent will be me -- the real me who is willing to settle for a good try.
But try I will. The philosopher Epictetus put it well: "If anything laborious or pleasant, glorious or inglorious, be presented to you, remember that now is the contest, now are the Olympic Games, and they cannot be deferred."
There will never be a day when men and women won't need dedication, discipline, and the sense that chasing down a goal is an essential part of life.