Virtue versus Vice

When I was 12, I read a story - The Choice of Hercules - where the ancient Greek hero was approached by two goddesses, Virtue and Vice, when he faced a fork in the road of life. Vice pushed herself towards Hercules first, and offered him a life with no challenges, filled with pleasure and every fantasy that he could desire. For a 12 year old, this was an easy decision and I could have stopped reading right there. But I continued and read that Virtue pitched him a seemingly much less attractive offer: a road filled with hardship, diligence and danger, since life's best rewards - Virtue argued - are gained only through hard work. Although I saw where she was going with this, part of me still wondered why anyone would choose the latter.

I thought of this story when I set out to do 2 x 7 hill sprints yesterday. It was hot, it was humid, and I was sweating heavily just standing outside. Repeatedly sprinting up a hill was the last thing I wanted to do. But I did it anyway, for the simple reasons that hard work - whether it was hill sprints, intervals or a fast five miles - is the only way to get what I really want. And I really want and am determined to break 20:00. When I was in the middle of my 12th hill sprint, there was no happiness, there was no joy. And come race day, when my lungs and legs burn and I try to summon every bit of strength that I can muster, I will like it even less. But to achieve a long sought goal after a prolonged struggle and be able to say Yes, I set my sights and did exactly what I set out to do...the overwhelming gratification, sense of pride and achievement would be indescribable. A lesson Hercules must have understood all those years ago: following virtue really is the best choice after all.