Every now and then someone comes along who is truly extraordinary in some way or another. Good thing too because it keeps the rest of us focused and reestablishes the scale of reality. What I mean by that is that now and then one of us normal humans will think of or do something that we might perceive as 'great' when it is merely a bit beyond the norm; true exceptional behavior and feats are really quite rare.
I like riding long distance, timed, endurance runs. I am proud of what I have accomplished but I always remember that I have not really done anything very much outside of the normal bounds. To me, a real 'tough guy' (movie expression, gender is meaningless here) is Diana Nyad; I have sat on the back of a motorcycle saddle for several hours and managed not to ride off a smoothly paved highway while Ms. Nyad
SWAM for more than 60 hours and 48 miles. After being pulled from the water it took several hours to convince her she could not continue- apparently everyone else who was present knew she was at the limit or perhaps beyond it but Ms. Nyad herself.
If anyone wants to take a look, there is a link here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57497675/cuba-to-florida-swimmer-says-she-has-no-regrets/ I think it is fascinating to see the photos of that woman before entering the water and after the end of her swim. Nothing short of an amazing performance in my opinion and one that is hard to think of as a failure regardless of the initial intended goal. Tenacity- what a fantastic attribute when coupled with ability and true toughness.
Brian
