The 25th Mile

There’s a phenomena that I call the 25th Mile. It’s when a student that is making significant progress, suddenly stops training with us. It’s an awful moment for a coach or teacher as you feel that if they had stayed around just a little longer they were ready to finally get where they needed to be, but then they stop. This has happened a few times over the years, but there’s two students I deeply regret doing this. I won’t go into details, but it really saddened me.

The 25th Mile comes from running the marathon and the idea that no one gives up on the 25th mile, with only 1.2 miles to go. But then, I guess the ‘race’ in terms of acting is harder to see the finish line coming, and so they decide that it isn’t working for them, drop out and go back to the type of emotive presentations they gave before. Sometimes it’s money, they can’t afford to train, sometimes they believe they’re not getting it, sometimes it’s a combination of factors, but I strongly urge any of you this, before you give up on your training, ask your coach for an assessment of where they feel you’re at. Because giving up on the 25th mile, that’s just going to be one of the saddest things that can happen.

Only those that struggle through can succeed, those that give up will never get where they want to go. It’s as simple as that. I’ll see you on the 25th mile.