Confronting the Royalty

Kara Goucher is American running royalty.  She is fast, well-sponsored, widely respected for being nice to average Joes, and a total babe. But she might not be helping people with their training.

I read her Tweet today and was sort of  pissed about it. Because that just isn't true.

All of us fail at some point and for someone like Kara to say otherwise is not fair to the mere mortals who look up to her and other elites.

In short, failure is what makes us stronger and faster. Failure also makes us better people.  For example, many of us, myself included, would love to qualify for Boston. Odds are I will never qualify for that race so I will live vicariously through my chums who are wicked fast and elites like Kara. However, this failure to qualify at my current marathon times pumps me up to train harder for the possibility to join my wicked fast chums in Hopkinton.

In recent years Kara has expressed her desire to win that race.  Now, if she doesn't win this year is that failure?  Under most definitions it would be.

But that is a good thing.

Her drive will be strengthened, her training adjusted.  If she just won every time, she wouldn't have to get better.  And that is fun, but there would be no fire.  American's like an underdog and love seeing our people win.  So when they fight back -- and have a sweet middle miles montage about their struggles -- we want to cheer harder and enjoy more.  Also, Nike prefers the comeback story line.

Yet that isn't the point. We all fail. No one wins everything. And in competitive running there is always going to be someone faster than you, someone who ran a smarter race, someone who wasn't going full speed that you beat because they didn't care to race, or you are going to need a Porto-potty really badly.

Perhaps she was trying to alter the general understanding of failure; that making the effort is enough to be considered a winner. And if she was, that is crap. 

Not being the best is part of life. The way we engage with our failures is more important than the way we celebrate our victories. Then again, I am simply a lowly court jester speaking truth to the powerful running royals.