Daily Gratitude: How do you define success? I’ve asked that before but it never hurts to repeat such an important question. My recent escapade at vol state is a perfect example of this. I made several mistakes and most of them were BEFORE the race even began. I started in the hole- a very deep hole. In fact, it was one I didn’t think I could climb out of. But I wasn’t going to throw away all those miles and hours of training, all the money and time spent getting to the race just to pull up stakes and say “ah well, I messed up – I’m out of here. See ya.” No way was I going to quit on day 1 when I knew I’d messed up badly. What was I to do? Just keep moving. At least I had learned that last year – that moving even very slowly was more productive than sitting around trying to get my energy back. What a great lesson from the past. And how smart of me (patting myself on the back) to remember that. That one fact and idea from a previous race kept me moving even when my legs just wouldn’t go. That 1 mile an hour was at least one more mile than I would have made had I just sat around moping. Maybe I wouldn’t be able to make the 314 that way but I’d never know sitting on my butt. You have to keep moving and moving toward some goal, even if today it has to be a tiny goal. We put fancy labels on things. People talk about this type of idea as “setting your intention.” Why not just say each morning “what is my tiny goal for today?”. Face it and accept it and then just move toward it. Same thing in the evening – simply ask yourself “did I reach my tiny goal” today? It doesn’t have to be complicated and fancy with acronyms and cute phrases. Just those two questions each day. Move from point a to point b every day. Then do it over the next day.