Moxie: No Horse? No Quit.

ONE STORY

("The Last Great Race." Image by Martin Schneekloth. 2019)

 "He Didn’t Ride the Horse. He Became One."

THE LONG RUN
For most of human history, running far wasn’t a sport. It was survival. A necessity. A test of spirit wrapped in the ordinary.

The Greeks had Pheidippides (a messenger who ran 150 miles from Athens to Sparta—on foot and without rest—to rally help before a Persian invasion). The Rarámuri ran for days through desert canyons. The messengers of the Incan Empire sprinted across mountain passes. Even 19th-century Englishmen bet fortunes on who could walk 500 miles in six days.

But modern ultrarunning?

It started with a man named Gordy Ainsleigh and a lame horse.

THE FIRST ULTRA
In 1974, Gordy was set to ride the Western States Trail Ride—100 brutal miles through the Sierra Nevada mountains. But his horse went lame. And instead of skipping the race, he kept going.

On foot.

(Gordy Ainsleigh on the trail. Photo by Charles E. Barieau, 1974)

No official rules. No cheering crowds. No model to follow. Just one stubborn question: Can I do this?

Twenty-three hours and forty-two minutes later, he crossed the finish line. Covered in dust. Muscles shredded. Smiling. He didn’t just finish. He proved something:

The line between impossible and finished is often just a matter of who’s willing to keep going.

BRAIN POWER
It turns out there’s a part of your brain built for moments like this.

It’s called the anterior midcingulate cortex (aMCC)—the section responsible for effortful persistence, sticking with hard things, and choosing action in the face of resistance.

(The aMCC. Image by National Institute of Medicine, 2019)

And what’s wild about the aMCC is this: You don’t grow it by thinking about courage. You don’t strengthen it through coursework or credentials.

You build it by doing hard things—especially when you want to quit.

By saying yes when your whole body says no. By moving forward with blisters, doubts, and no guarantee of payoff.

Every time you finish the workout you didn’t want to do...
Every time you step into the conversation you’d rather avoid...
Every time you choose the uncomfortable path on purpose—that’s your aMCC firing.

That’s persistence being forged.

It doesn’t happen in theory.
It happens in the moment you almost quit... and don’t.

TWO QUOTES

“The human body is capable of amazing things. It’s the mind you have to convince.”
— Gordy Ainsleigh

“Easy never changed the world.”
— Robin Sharma

THREE TAKEAWAYS

1. Doing the hard thing rewires your brain.
   The aMCC strengthens every time you choose discomfort on purpose. Doing the hard thing always develops that part of you built for courage, discipline, and long-term drive.

2. Maybe you don’t run marathons—but you can have that hard conversation.
   You can finish the project. Make the call. Say what needs to be said. The small decisions you make to do what you don’t want to do—when it aligns with who you do want to become—are where growth lives.

3. Every time you keep going, you become someone who keeps going.
   That’s the feedback loop. Whether it's mile 79, the second round of layoffs, or week 4 of rehab…the decision to persist is always a door to the next version of you.

 MOXIE REFLECTIONS

• What’s one thing you’ve been avoiding—not because it’s unimportant, but because it’s uncomfortable?

• What’s one small, hard thing you can do today that your future self will thank you for?

• When have you persisted before—and what did it grow in you?

QUICK HITS

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY

As we reflect on doing hard things, let's look at historical figures who embodied this principle:

(Winston Churchill, 1940)

➡ May 13, 1940 – Winston Churchill
On this day, Churchill delivered his first speech as Prime Minister to the British Parliament, famously stating: “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” Facing the dire threat of Nazi Germany, Churchill's leadership embodied unwavering determination in the face of adversity.

➡ May 16, 1975 – Junko Tabei
Junko Tabei became the first woman to summit Mount Everest. Facing societal expectations and physical challenges, Tabei's achievement broke gender barriers in mountaineering.

➡ May 17, 1954 – Thurgood Marshall
As the lead attorney for the NAACP, Thurgood Marshall argued the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education before the U.S. Supreme Court. On May 17, 1954, the Court unanimously ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. Marshall's dedication to justice and equality paved the way for the Civil Rights Movement and led to his appointment as the first African American Supreme Court Justice.

TOOLS FOR GROWTH

PATTERN RECOGNITION: Social Comparison Bias
Social Comparison Bias is our tendency to judge our own worth, progress, or success by comparing ourselves to others—especially those who seem further ahead.

Why it matters: You might be proud of your effort—until you see someone else doing it faster, cleaner, or with a bigger audience. Suddenly, your progress feels small. The hard thing you're doing? It starts to feel pointless, not because it is—but because someone else makes it look easy.

Result: You stall. You shrink. You stop pushing—not because the task got harder, but because someone else's highlight reel made you doubt your own path. Comparison replaces conviction. And the brain forgets: you’re not running their race.

Your courage doesn’t need to be faster.
It just needs to be yours.

MENTAL SKILL OF THE WEEK: Identity-Based Discipline
Identity-Based Discipline means making decisions based on who you are becoming, not how you feel in the moment. It’s the mindset of acting in alignment with your future self—even when your current self would rather coast.

How to use it: Don’t ask, “Do I feel like it?” Ask, “What would the disciplined version of me do?” When you anchor your actions to identity—not mood—you create consistency without relying on motivation. You stop negotiating with discomfort, and start embodying the person you’re training to be.

When you live from identity instead of impulse, hard things stop feeling like sacrifices—and start feeling like proof.

ONE MORE THING

(Gordy Ainsleigh finishing the race. Photo by Charles E. Barieau, 1974)

Gordy Ainsleigh didn’t just run 100 miles. He rewrote his story. He didn’t ask, “What’s expected here?” He asked, “What if I’m built for more?”

And the truth is—so can you. Your aMCC—literally grows stronger when you show up, stay in it, and don’t quit.

When you do hard things, you're not just doing hard things. You’re becoming the kind of person who does hard things.