Pereverance, Preparation and Success

            It's Monday, 6AM, the first official day of summer, and a chilly morning for a run. After hitting the snooze button on my alarm, I figure it's time to make breakfast. I crack three eggs in a bowl, add a touch of milk, and scramble those bad boys. I'm out the door by 6:30 and complete my morning run by 7:00, followed by an hour stretch routine. Throughout the rest of the day I will have eaten seven more meals, lifted weights for two hours, and completed a 90 minute yoga routine before bed at 10:00 PM. This is the standard Monday through Friday routine during the summer in order to prepare for the motocross racing season. In order to succeed with anything in life, it is essential to incorporate perseverance and preparation.
             When I was about 13, I never prepared myself for a race. Once I took off from the starting line, I would ride my hardest, but never won. I would become exhausted and tired before the end of the race. Benjamin Franklin, a founding father of the United States, once said, "By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail." Franklin made a very good point. Being unprepared is a setup for failure. This is something that applied to me when I was younger. My lack of preparation led to not winning any races on the track. Fortunately, I learned to change my routine and worked to prepare myself for the races each weekend.
             Around the age of 16, I figured out there are two very important ways to prepare for a motocross race: mental and physical preparation. In order to achieve physical preparation, I needed to become more fit. I started running, weight lifting, and stretching, which allowed me to become much better at controlling the dirt bike. Becoming physically fit allowed me to feel much more confident in my ability to race a dirt bike, therefore making me mentally prepared for each weekend of racing. Without physical preparation it is near impossible to be mentally prepared.