When Is It Time To Give Up? Never!
You can face any challenge when you are committed
While running on the treadmill, I watched the 2001 movie, The Mexican, with Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts. This dark comedy is about a bumbling hood, Jerry (Brad Pitt), who has to recover a famous gun as a last assignment, but his girlfriend, Samantha (Julia Roberts), disagrees and breaks up with Jerry. However, she gets kidnapped by Winston (James Gandolfini), an apparent ruthless thug. Samantha and Winston form a bond and start discussing relationships. During a touching moment, Winston asks Samantha, “When two people love each other, really love each other, but they just can’t get it together, when do you get to that point where enough is enough?” Samantha babbles some incomprehensive verbiage and Winston simply responds, “The answer is never.” At the movie’s end, Samantha asks Jerry the same question, and he responds without hesitation: “Never.”
When our commitment is grounded in a deep purpose or a strong emotion like love, we never give up on the situation. Although the question in The Mexican is about love, it can easily apply to our love of running and our commitment to the sport so that we never give up. I learned and lived through many obstacles and challenges since I started running in 1987. The areas that tested my commitment to running are work, family, and health.
