It comes down to this

Today is the first of two days of interviews during which I will be competing with my coworkers to retain my job during the downsizing.  I got up this morning before sunrise and ran.  HARD.  My previous best pace had been 9:32/mile for 3 miles.  Today, I did 8:41/mile for 3 miles.  I was running angry.  I'll admit that I'm not breaking any land speed records, but considering that 2.5 months ago I was happy to get my pace under 13:00/mile, I'm feeling pretty good.

As I flopped down onto the floor, exhausted after my run, I recalled my favorite speech by Teddy Roosevelt.  It is known as "The Man in the Arena":

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.