On the east side of Central Park between the 79th and 72nd crosstown streets there is a cat statue about halfway up the hill on Park Drive North. At the bottom of the hill is the Boat House. In a scene reminiscent of Sean Connery in the movie The Hill (ok, not really, but I’m going for dramatic effect) a small group of runners including myself ran up and down that hill what felt like a thousand times (but was probably more like eight) while doing some strength and speed training. Left to my own devices I know I wouldn’t have pushed nearly as hard, but in a group, and with a wonderful instructor, I did more than I otherwise would have. It was a helpful reminder that we are almost always capable of more, in pretty much everything we do. We’ve all heard that fallacy about only using 10% of our brain, but I think a truer truism would be to say we often only use 10% of our spirit.

Chris