Monday Interview Series: The Tortoise

I thought that this week I'd slow the pace down a little bit, so I arranged to have my friend the Tortoise stop by for a chat. Now, I had to arrange this a few weeks ago, and he's only just arrived. He's still breathing rather hard, but he says he's ready, so here goes.

Greg:  First of all, I'd like to thank you for coming. I know the Olympics are going on right now, and it must be killing you not to be there.

Tortoise:  Oh not at all, not at all. I've retired, you see. No more racing around for me. It always gave me motion sickness.

Greg:  What sort of advice would you give to our track and field athletes?

Tortoise:  It has always been my experience that slow and steady wins the race. It is always best to put one's head down and dive right in. That applies not only to track and field, I've found. Michael Phelps always dives right in, and look where it got him.

Greg:  Well, that sounds like good advice. Let's talk a little about your race. What stands out about it for you?

Tortoise:  Before the race, I remember that the Hare was talking a lot of trash. He was saying things like he'd run the course three times before I'd even got halfway. I don't like to speak badly of people, but that was uncalled for.

I'm kind of quiet, don't come out of my shell too often. His talk really rubbed me the wrong way. I could have zoomed out of the gate and peaked too early. Luckily I calmed down, and stayed within  myself. Slow and steady, that's the way to win the race.

So the Hare got off to a terrific start. I have to hand it to him, he was brilliant. But I wasn't worried. I'd seen that sort of thing before. I kept plodding along. About a quarter of the way in to the course, I was still feeling good.

Greg:  How far along was the Hare at that point?

Tortoise:  Oh quite a good ways along. He made it about three quarters of the way along the course before overconfidence got the better of him. He decided he was going to take a little snooze. I just kept running along, but it did burn me up when I caught up to him to see him just snoring away, like I wasn't a threat, wasn't even in the race.

Well, i crept by as quietly as I could, then really turned it on. I was cruising along at several yards an hour. I won the race going away. It was a grand thing I can tell you!

Greg:  It serves the Hare right. I guess what comes around goes around. Well, thank you very much for taking a little time to chat with us.

Tortoise:  Not at all. It was very nice chatting with you. We got off rather slowly, but kept at it and it turned out all right. Story of my life, really.