On the virtues of persistence...

Whenever I go to the gym, running on the treadmill is a must. I usually run on the treadmill for 30 minutes, my average speed being over 6 miles/hour. The hardest time during these 30 minutes is around the halfway when I reach the minute 15, that's when I've just started sweating, my legs have just shown the signs of fatigue and I can feel the sense of being helplessly tired. That's the only time I'm tempted to give up running and walk down the treadmill. At the beginning I'm energetic and towards the end I'm hopeful that I'm about to finish. That abyss in the middle is the most awkward. That's also true in real life. I start something with lots of passion and energy, I reach the middle and give up. In those cases that I remained persistent, I noticed the success hadn't been far away. Somebody once said the problem with Iranians is that they give up when they've accomplished 99% of the job. Well, I try not to be like that anymore, especially for my self-assigned missions :p