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Good Afternoon. Here is a great thought for the day:

ABC Sports called it one of the most defining moments in sports. After leading the 1982 Kona, HI Triathlon for more than 7 hours, Julie Moss collapsed fifty feet from the finish line. Millions of television viewers painfully watched Julie stagger then fall, stagger then fall and stagger then crawl across the finish line. What they did not see was the mental transformation that took place within Julie during that time. This was a defining moment in her life.

Julie was a 23-year-old student participating in her first triathlon largely in part to do research for her exercise physiology thesis. She entered the event because she believed it would provide her with valuable experience to incorporate into her thesis. She did not consider herself to be an exceptional athlete and later explained, "I used to dread getting called onto the court for volleyball or having to serve in tennis," she says of her high school sporting days.

But leading an Ironman race can have a powerful effect on people and Julie experienced that first hand. During the midpoint of the run portion — the final leg — her desire to simply finish began to evolve into a desire to finish fast and finish first. Never in her entire life had she experienced that competitive side to her psyche. However, she was about to experience the effects of her poor diet and hydration during the race. At that time, very little was understood about nutrition, hydration, and high performance activity. The Power Bar wasn't invented yet and most athletes believed that banana and water were the nutritional staples of high performance — we know differently today. Julie began to feel the effects of poor nutrition and hydration during the event. With about seven miles to go she was forced to add intervals of walking then running. Her body was shutting down, but her mind was not. "It took all my focus just to keep my body working," she recalled. "The image was that I was pretty out of it, but it was taking all my focus just to keep going. I had to concentrate so much on how I placed my foot on the ground. If I was off by a bit, my leg would just buckle."

With 100 yards to go, Julie's mind began to play tricks on her. She imagined herself running across the finish line and kept trying to run instead of walk to the finish. Later she said that she probably would have won the race if she simply decided to walk instead of run. So for the last 50 yards she continued to fall, rise, step, and fall over and over again. It was painful to watch. Julie was on her hands and knees within feet of the finish line when the second place runner passed Julie to win the race. A few seconds later, Julie crawled across the finish line — creating one of the most dramatic finishes in sports history. For Julie, it was much more than a generic defining moment in sports; this was her defining moment.

At some point in everyone's life we all have a defining moment. The one thing these moments have in common is they arrive after confronting a long struggle and a determined refusal to give up. Finish your race, even if it means crawling across the finish line.

Have a wonderful day.

"Each morning is the beginning of a new day. You have been given this day to use as you will. You can waste it or use it for good. What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it. When the sun rises tomorrow this day will be gone forever, in its place will be something you have left — may it be something good. Follow your heart, it knows what to do."

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