The Art of Competition.

The art of competition is a very complex and misunderstood thing by many competitors and noncompetitors. I see so many athletes mostly runners in my observation really buy into the false idea that it is them up against the runner next to them. This type of ideology cannot breed success under any circumstance. Sun Tzu the author of The Art of War prescribes the idea that you should make yourself well defended, but that victory comes from taking advantage of your opponents’ actions. Well… in the competitive arena YOU are your own opponent. It is you against the man/woman you were yesterday. With the challenge being do you want to be better or worse then who and what you were yesterday? The power and battle is much greater internally then anything externally. If and when you conquer yourself inwardly task outwardly become abundantly easier. I see so many people hang their heads after their best efforts. Reasons always being “I didn’t win” or “he/she beat me again” well I say to you that while you didn’t win or while you might haven’t had passed a certain individual. You conquered something and someone much more greater. You conquered yourself, your mind telling you to stop this hurts don’t do that take a break. You had the will power to push past and better yourself and who you want to be. YOU took advantage of your opponents actions, you flipped your negatives and made them your strengths. You won the internal war and defeated the external task placed against you. The war won against yourself is truly The Art of Competition.

– The Viking Runner