Failure

Recently I have become very acquainted with the term failure. I am not being hard on myself or trying to tear myself down (why would I do that when I love myself so much), but there have been several goals that I have not achieved expectations on. The strange part is that it isn't slowing me down. Today we had to run two miles in under 15 minutes. I believe I should be able to do that as a college soccer player, but today I just didn't get it taken care of. I now have to repeat the test until I am capable of running that quickly. Perhaps this should be disheartening or force me to re-examine my summer training schedule, but really, what is the point in looking back at what should have happened when there is always the future to look to instead. Had I passed the goal time, I would be exempt from having to run any more two mile tests. Since I failed, I now have the opportunity to push myself to be better. I have to shave off that extra 25 seconds, suck it up, and prove to myself how great I can really be. I love to fail and make mistakes because they give me the chance to look to the future and know what I want. If I achieved everything the first try, life wouldn't be worth anything, but with failure and mistakes I can really grow. Sure I hate the two mile test only a little less than I hate U-laps (they are on my bottom 2 list of things to do athletically) and wish I never had to see the thing ever again, but by working I can become greater than I am today and truly improve myself. (Sorry for the excessively inspirational post)