North of Montgomery

One of the books I finished last week was The Impossible First by Colin O’Brady.  Timely, I know.  I can’t make it down my driveway but Colin is walking 932 miles across the entire continent of Antarctica unsupported.  That’ll give you some perspective.  I love love love books like this and always have.  Explorers, adventurers, survival stories, you name it and I read them.  What strikes me the most about these narratives is what humans are truly capable of in the most unimaginable conditions. 

The quote that stood out the most in this book actually didn’t come from Colin.  His father texted him with encouragement on a daily basis during his 54-day journey.  One quote came from Des Linden in 2018, who had just become the first American woman to win the Boston Marathon in over thirty years:  “Some days if just flows and I feel like I’m born to do this.  Other days it feels like I’m trudging through hell.  Every day I make the choice to show up and see what I’ve got, and to try and be better.” 

Whether we are heading up into the death zone on K2 or Mount Everest, climbing the Seven Summits, free climbing El Capitan, or teaching in Williamson County, we have the choice (every day) to show up and try to be better than the day before.