{"id":1056,"date":"2026-03-11T20:58:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T20:58:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/miles2go.ca\/?p=1056"},"modified":"2026-03-27T13:54:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T13:54:06","slug":"you-can-do-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/miles2go.ca\/index.php\/2026\/03\/11\/you-can-do-it\/","title":{"rendered":"“You can do it . . . !”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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“You can do it, Ron! You can do it!”<\/strong>

Mile 17 or 18 of the New York City Marathon. What’s often called ‘hitting the wall.’ A point in the 26.2 miles where a runner longs to just collapse into a fetal position on the sidewalk. I had already shifted into an even slower gear than my usual non-world-record-threatening pace. On the verge of shutting down completely, my head<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n


hanging down almost waist-level, I saw a man coming at me from the sidewalk. He ran alongside, his face inches from mine, his arms wildly pointing to me then the road, to me then the road, all the while shouting in my ear, “Ron, you can do it! Don’t quit! You can do it, Ron!”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wow! What choice did I have? My body rose to its usual slouching posture, took a deep breath, and began to pump my arms. He stayed with me for about 10 yards before peeling off back to the sidewalk. But that’s all I needed. I was now at the corner of Central Park on 5th Avenue. I could hear the cheering crowd at the finish line. When I finally crossed that line, my sheer euphoria overshadowed the last few miles of pain. A lifetime experience never to be forgotten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, how did that man know my name? <\/strong>
Prior to my first New York City marathon (I did two, you know), I heard about the phenomenal encouragement offered by the 100,000 spectators along the route. If I put my first name on the front of my bib and ran close enough to the sidelines, they would shout out my name as I went by. That was quite an experience even before Mile 18 – to have so many people declare my name. I stayed as close to the sidewalk as I could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That event happened 12 years ago. Why am I writing about it today? <\/strong>
At the gym this morning, several of the television sets were showing the men’s biathlon at Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. A gruelling track that moves from heart-pumping, cross-country skiing to perfect stillness for target shooting. Near the finish line, one of the competitors was showing signs of struggle. A man dashed out from the sideline and began to run beside him. I couldn’t hear the words but did see the wild gestures of support. After a few lengths, he faded back into the pack of spectators and the skier pressed on to finish the course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m thinking the man was saying some version of “You can do it . . . ! Don’t quit! You can do it!” <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later this morning, a dear friend phoned to share a new article about the future and implications of artificial intelligence. Much is being written to explore what will be left for humans to do as AI finds its full stride. I am far from qualified to speak to this topic with any authority at all. But I would like to be confident there is one thing AI will never be able to do. That is, to run alongside someone, point a finger in their face, shout with spittle all over them, and exclaim for the world to hear, “You can do it . . . ! Don’t quit! You CAN do it!”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I should end with that emotive high point. But right now some of you are thinking about Nike’s slogan: ‘Just Do It.’ With no disrespect to Nike, I would like to affirm a world of difference between the two expressions. “You can do it, Ron!”<\/strong> came from the heart and spirit of a compassionate human being. He spontaneously jumped in to give strength to a fellow traveller who was losing the battle for achieving a lifetime goal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The origin of the Nike words, ‘Just Do It,’<\/strong> was the farthest thing possible from positive, healthy, human interaction. Just before his execution in 1977 for murder, Gary Gilmore said, “Let’s do it.” These dark words, spoken in the darkest of inhuman contexts, inspired an advertising agency in 1988. They adapted the phrase to say ‘Just Do It’ and, as we all know, ‘the rest is history’ for Nike’s global explosion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Just Do It’ has worked for its corporate culture and business purposes. But it smacks of an impersonal, competitive environment. A world of technical and mechanical prowess that, at its worst, assumes a zero sum approach to life where anything gained by one side is lost by another. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whereas “YOU can do it, Ron!” “You CAN do it, Jane!” “You can DO it, Joey!” <\/strong>– should I keep going? – put your own name in there! – resonates with the depth of dynamic human spirit. It speaks to intensely personal longing and motivation for growth and wellbeing. It declares what it means to be wholly alive and encourage others to be the same. It is the farthest thing possible from facing a firing squad for murder and saying, “Let’s just get on with it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Am I upset that ‘Just Do It’ has become such a powerful mantra in sports and beyond? Of course not. All of us need motivational triggers to start or continue life-enriching activity. It’s just interesting to learn more about where things come from. And to me, “You can do it, Ron!” from a total stranger who sees my lagging spirit is so much more personal. Even if it comes with a healthy dose of spittle sprayed in my face.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“You can do it, Ron! You can do it!” Mile 17 or 18 of the New York City Marathon. What’s often called ‘hitting the wall.’ A point in the 26.2 miles where a runner longs to just collapse into a fetal position on the sidewalk. I had already shifted into an even slower gear than…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-issues","category-musings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/miles2go.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/miles2go.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/miles2go.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miles2go.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miles2go.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1056"}],"version-history":[{"count":50,"href":"https:\/\/miles2go.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1950,"href":"https:\/\/miles2go.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1056\/revisions\/1950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/miles2go.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miles2go.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miles2go.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}