"What is the use of climbing Mount Everest? My answer must at once be, "It is no use." There is not the slightest prospect of any gain whatsoever. Oh, we may learn a little about the behavior of the human body at high altitudes, and possible medical men may turn our observation to some account for the purposes of aviation. But otherwise nothing will come of it. We shall not bring back a single bit of gold or silver, not a gem, nor any coal or iron. We shall not find a single foot of earth that can be planted with crops to raise food. It's no use. So, if you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won't see why we go. What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for."
- George Leigh Mallory, one of the English mountaineers who took part in a British expedition to Mount Everest in 1924
Coach Allan Kopel shared this with us. It came to him from a runner he is helping be more proficient in the water.
David Winters, who coaches with us at North Bay Aquatics, observed a few months back that swimming is not extra-curricular but rather co-curricular. When viewed this way, the pursuit of personal success seems rather worthwhile regardless of the outcome.
Larry Fulton, a local basketball coach and trainer we know, said he thought swimmers, runners and rowers (and we add tri-athletes) are the toughest and smartest athletes around since they work so hard without compromise in a very exposed way; they get no rest break; they either keep going and succeed...or they don't.
Lots to think about here...seems to us. What say you?
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