It's not a fail, it's an opportunity

At Beloved Summer Job, my boss's, boss's, boss would not allow us to say "fail" - he said it was an opportunity, you just had to look for it. While at first it seemed like just a silly phrase of encouragement, he did have a good point. Almost (and yes, we had a couple of true "fails") every "fail" has an opportunity masked somewhere in it. You just have to think about it, and in some cases, think about it for a while. Here are two recent running-related "opportunities"
*My 18 miler a few weeks ago was really hard - one of the hardest runs I've done excluding the marathon. I had to go really slow, and was filled with a lot of doubt along the way. While I made it through the whole thing (I had to go through the anonymous "Don't Quit" poem a few times in my head), I still thought it was a failure. However, once I sat down 2 weeks after and re-evaluated the run, I realized the problems that occurred with the layout of the course. I switched things around when I mapped out my 20 miler. That run was successful because I thought things through my "fail".
*After my 7 miler this morning, I did not have time for breakfast, and lunch just seemed to far away. I knew I needed something, so I thought I would try "Muscle Milk," which is supposed to help aid with recovery. Gross! Definitely not what I thought it was going to taste like. At first, I thought big fail - four bucks I'll never see and grossness. But it was my opportunity to learn that recovery drinks are not for me, even if other people recommend them.

So, Andrew, here's to you. Thank you for teaching me to look for the opportunity beyond every fail. I'll keep looking...