Three Miles A Day

Mollie Marcoux Samaan has been sending out daily pep talks to the Princeton athletes on campus who are currently quarantining in advance of the second semester.

The messages are in the form of inspirational quotes from Princeton coaches. There have been some really good ones so far.

It got TigerBlog to thinking about what quote he would offer. While he thinks about that, women's cross country coach Brad Hunt didn't quote someone else. He came up with his own:

“Distance running is all about being comfortable while being uncomfortable - being confident when the push to the finish line feels uncertain. A great runner never gives up when the moment is hard. Overcoming any challenge creates growth and more strength for the next challenge. CONQUER THE QUARANTINE!”

-         Coach Brad Hunt

If anyone knows about distance running, it's Brad Hunt.

In addition to being the head women's cross country coach, he's also a runner himself. In fact, it turns out that Hunt has run at least three miles every day for ... what for it ... 15 straight years. He recently went past 5,500 straight days.

If you multiply 5,500 times three, you get 16,500 miles. The distance around the Earth at the equator is 24,900 miles.

That 16,500-mile number, by the way, assumes that Hunt ran exactly three miles each day and no more. He's probably way past that total.

As someone who rides his bike almost every day, TB can say firsthand that the idea of going 15 years without missing a day is extraordinary. There are so many days where TB has to talk himself into it, and there are others were the weather isn't cooperative or he just doesn't feel like it.

TB has a very serious respect for what Hunt is doing. 

TB doesn't know Brad Hunt well, but he knows him well enough to know that he's a really well-spoken person, one who makes really thoughtful points and who also has a very, very considerate side. Those qualities are all obvious.

To that you can also add, apparently, well-conditioned.

Meanwhile, back at Mollie's series of quotes, there was this from men's hockey coach Ron Fogarty:

Stay positive - test negative!”

That's quick and to the point. 

So what would make a good inspirational quote? TB is still thinking.

As always, he goes to Pete Carril first, who essentially said this after the men's basketball team beat UCLA in the first round of the NCAA tournament:

"You can give the greatest pep talk in the world, 'win one for the Gipper' and all that, and none of it means anything if the guys you're talking to don't believe they can do it." 

That's not word-for-word, but it's the basic point. TB doesn't have the original version that Carril said in the postgame press conference, but he does remember the "win one for the Gipper" part and the last part.

That's pretty classic Carril stuff. And it might not seem like it's inspirational at first, but if you think about it, that quote really says everything you need to know about athletics.

TB has always believed that in close games, a big difference can be the fact that one team knows it's going to win and the other doesn't. It's that confidence or doubt that often decides the outcome.

TB has seen it a thousand times. 

Another quote TB likes is one that he's heard before from many sources. It's not so much a quote as it is an attitude, and it's one that Princeton football alum Stephen Carlson said to TB when they spoke before the NFL playoffs a few weeks ago.

When Carlson was talking about the changes the Cleveland Browns had in the off-season related to coaching staff and personnel, he said something simply that resonated a great deal with TB:

"The only thing you can control is your effort," he said. 

That's a good one as well. It's easy to assign blame or think that it doesn't matter what you do, but as Carlson said, you can control your effort.

Lastly, TB always loved one from former Princeton men's lacrosse coach Bill Tierney, who said this:

"When things are going badly, stop and think what it is you do best and do that."

Again, there's a lot of wisdom there.

There are thousands of great, inspirational, thought-inspiring, effort-inspiring quotes out there. 

Also, if you don't know the origins of "Win One For The Gipper," then go watch "Knute Rockne All-American."

Or just watch these two clips: