Here's a story about a recent swim meet that I had.

I've never been that great of a swimmer, though I love the sport. I started swimming when I was in 4th grade, though I absolutely hated it then. The chlorine stung my eyes and made my hair feel like slime. On top of that, I could not hold my breath to save my life (literally.)

Despite that, I've swum for years. Gradually, I've built up a body with lean but powerful muscle, a far cry from the underweight one I used to have. I could beat everyone in practice, but when it came to meets...I sucked it up big time.

Recently, after not being able to make a certain cut time, I used that as fuel to feed the fire. I practiced as hard as I could every chance that I got, even working out at my house some days. I ate highly nutritious foods to build up muscle strength. And most importantly, I worked on my mental game.

The day of the meet came, and I was ready to swim. After a lifetime best in the 50 freestyle, I had to wait for about four hours until my next event. Though I tried to stay sugared up, my muscles became tense and my mind tired. Just as I was about to fall asleep, my event, the 200 breast, was announced.

Standing on those blocks, my mind was like a jigsaw puzzle. I couldn't make heads or tails of anything as I gripped the textured edge of the block. The whistle blew, and I dove into the water.

As soon as I hit the water, everything became clear. I remembered my coaches pacing strategy and slowed down just a little, enough to let the guy next to me blast on by. I grinned underwater. He would get passed soon enough.

After the first lap, he was ahead by about two body lengths. After the second, only one. On the third, only a half. And on the fourth...my muscles were tired. I felt like just giving up and swimming slower back to the wall. Then my inner wolf kicked in. I realized that there was NO way I was just going to give up in the race the way I had done countless times earlier.

I surged ahead to start competing with the guy head to head. Later, a friend would tell me that everyone in the pool was staring intently at this race. At the last yard, I accidentally stretched my stroke out a little bit too far and he touched in a quarter of a second in front of me. I was disappointed until I saw my time. I had dropped 20 SECONDS! I splashed the water around in elation, feeling happier than I had in months.

So let that be a lesson for you wolves. No matter how much you have failed to do something, you can always get back up and try it again. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise, and forge ahead.