Hi, this is Debbie Boyles, coach at Mojo for Running with podcast number 52, winners, losers and quitters.

I really dislike that word quitter. It has a severely negative connotation, and I find that most people have a fear of being labeled by themselves or someone else as a quitter.

It's a societal thing, of course.

We don't like quitters.

No one does, but I fear that many people define it incorrectly.

Actually, it's a problem with all those words,

winner, loser, and quitter.

You've no doubt heard the saying,

second place is the first loser.

What a horribly inaccurate statement.

When I taught middle school, there was a line

of T-shirts with supposedly motivational phrases on the back. And I love motivational quotes.

I liked them, but this one made me nuts. Anyone who believes they're a loser if they don't win has a

sad life ahead. Winning is fun, but the value of

sport, all sport, is in the journey. It's what we gain from the journey. Most people will not win,

no matter what the sport. If we use the word win in the literal sense, you know that. Is the only

winner the one who crosses the finish line first or the one who sets a PR? Of course not. I think you're a winner if you do the best you can on any given day to achieve your goal on that day. If your goal is to get out there and enjoy a race and having a fast time isn't the goal. Occasionally, one of my runners makes what I consider to be a bad decision, but I try

to remember they are grownups. If they make unwise decisions during the last couple of weeks

before a big goal race, I tell myself, this is where running teaches its best lessons. All I can do

is provide guidance. And believe me, I've made my share of bad

decisions, like the time I did a strenuous 16-mile trail race two weeks before the Marine Corps

marathon. I'll never know how much better that marathon could have been, but I do know it wasn't

...