Racing Slow

The Hare was once boasting of his speed before the other animals. "I have never yet been beaten," said he, "when I put forth my full speed. I challenge any one here to race with me."

The Tortoise said quietly, "I accept your challenge."

"That is a good joke," said the Hare; "I could dance round you all the way."

"Keep your boasting till you've beaten," answered the Tortoise. "Shall we race?"

So a course was fixed and a start was made. The Hare darted almost out of sight at once, but soon stopped and, to show his contempt for the Tortoise, lay down to have a nap. The Tortoise
plodded on and plodded on, and when the Hare awoke from his nap, he saw the Tortoise just near the winning-post and could not run up in time to save the race. Then said the Tortoise:

"Slow and steady wins the race."

-The Hare and the Tortoise, From Aesop's Fables


I was thinking about this story as I finished reading "Jump In" by Mark Burnett, creator of Survivor and The Apprentice. It's a fascinating read. Mark Burnett was an ex British paratrooper who came to Los Angeles with less then $600 in his pocket, chasing the American dream. The first thing he did was find a job - as a nanny! How he convinced a family to hire him I have no idea. But he did. Eventually he heard about the Raid Gauloises, an international team outdoor endurance race and decided he wanted to do his own race. Before producing his own, he first raced twice in the Raid, losing badly both times but learning. Eventually he did create his own race called the Eco-Challenge. While producing the Eco-Challenge he head about the idea behind what would eventually be called Survivor . . . and the rest is history. Here's a video of what the race looks like:



Anyway, Burnett tells fascinating stories about the Eco-Challenge. Usually the 4 person teams of athletes are endurance athletes with a specializations in outdoor pursuits. They race for about a week with minimial supplies, lots of danger, and little sleep. What's intersting though is sometimes they get groups who come in who don't want to win - just to finish. He tells the story of a granny who's team finished a week later then everyone else. This may not seem very impressive, but this race is difficult. So difficult in fact that sometimes over half the teams don't finish! Often people will get injured, lost, exhausted, disqualified for splitting up from their teams, lose their minds, etc. In their desire for speed, they often wear themselves out or take unnecessary risks. The granny's team finished last, but unlike many of the competitors, they finished. As Aesop said in his story above, slow and steady can win the race.

Sometimes we race and we are so greedy for the prize (first place) that we gamble it all. I was thinking about my bike ride from Gimli to Winnipeg. I definitely took a "tortoise" approach to it - but I did it (even if it took 10 hours). There is wisdom in slow and steady. Whether it is relationships, investing, school, or career we must not be like the hare. There is a time for speed, brashness, and gambling (the hare) but it needs to be balanced by the slow, steady approach of the tortoise. Sometimes finishing is more important then finishing first.

May Light increase!