I vividly remember the scene in the first Rocky movie where Rocky wakes up at 4 a.m. to run.
It’s dark. Rocky is up before the sun. He cracks five eggs into a glass and drinks them raw. No expression. He wears a gray sweatshirt with the remains of the raw eggs from earlier, and ties his worn sneakers before heading out the door.
He steps outside and runs into the dark. The streets are empty. The air is cold. He runs through alleys and past closed shops. His breath is heavy. Footsteps echo.
He can barely lift his feet as he climbs the Philadelphia Museum of Art stairs, holding his sides due to stitches.
He makes it to the top and hurriedly comes down.
To Rocky, his run didn’t feel like a win.
It was something he’d never done. And he hated it.
But he did it anyway. He had to.
To Rocky, it was just another Philadelphia morning as he started preparing to fight against Apollo Creed.
His one shot to change his life.
As I write this at 5 a.m., I think of this scene and its meaning.
It’s as powerful now as it was then.
Here’s my quote for the day.
The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses—behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.
Muhammad Ali