Ordinary people do amazing things.
You've probably never heard of the Westfield Ultramarathon, a race from Sydney to Melbourne, Australia, 543.7 grueling miles.
But if you've heard of it, you've probably heard of Cliff Young, profiled by Scott Mautz in Find the Fire. Mautz believes success parallels willingness to try, improvement, and never quitting. He examines drains to inspiration like fear of failure.
Young was an Australian farmer with a 2,000 acre farm. He never had a coach, a trainer, or special equipment. He grew potatoes and chased around 2,000 sheep as his profession, sometimes for days at a time.
In 1983, he arrived at the Westfield Ultramarathon to compete, wearing rubber rain boots and torn overalls. While runners stretched in their Nike and Adidas running gear, people laughed at Young, considering him a joke. But he insisted on running. Hours later he trailed by miles. But he didn't quit.
Over five days later, the joke was on everyone else, as the farmer finished first, destroying the previous record, by two days. At age 61! They asked, "what's your secret?" He replied, "you gotta keep going."
He had no strategy; he just ran. He had a peculiar shuffle (now adopted as the Young Shuffle) and instead of taking the "normal" six hour recovery sleep, he slept only an hour at a time. Endurance and persistence defeated conventional wisdom. He earned an (unexpected) prize of 10,000 (AUD) dollars and generously SHARED it with his competitors who had competed equally hard.
Melrose travels to Winchester today in a battle of Middlesex League unbeaten teams. Do what has made you successful. Focus on doing well what you do a lot. Just keep going.
Inspiration killers (from Mautz's book). Keep inspiration alive.
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