UT Student to Raise Bitcoins Running 50 Miles With No Training

Steve Guillen, a Mechanical Engineering student at UT-Austin, is attempting the unthinkable challenge. He will be running the Hell’s Hills Tejas Trail Run in Smithville, TX this Saturday. Why is this unthinkable? Because the race is 50 miles long, and Steve is running it with no training. He is hoping to raise fifty bitcoins to donate to the Texas Alliance for Minorities in Engineering.

Attempting this feat may seem crazy, but Steve is determined to prove that the impossible can become possible if you put your mind to it. He states:

Growing up, I was told:

"You can do what-ever you want, as long as you put your mind to it".

However, there was little said on the innumerable distractions in life which would make it difficult to "put my mind to it". This adage fails to address the reality of growing into adulthood--the reality that with maturation comes temptation, and curiosity; the reality that, one is bound to make mistakes and have to deal with the consequences; the reality that life isn't all skittles and rainbows: hardship and failure are inevitable. Nonetheless, experiencing hardship or failure is no reason to give-up.

In fact, hardship and failure is the norm, the standard; it is the null. Everyone fails and everyone suffers. Only the stalwart persist to find success. If it were otherwise, then everyone would be as accomplished as Bill Gates. The only true failure is quitting, when one relinquishes all efforts to persist, and becomes complacent with a lesser prize than originally sought.

This is not the first time, Steve has played a game of mental endurance. During his Spring Break last year, he rode his bike from Austin, TX to Destin, FL to meet up with his friends. Again, he did this with no training. 

We can all learn from this Texan's test of mental endurance. Good luck tomorrow, Steve!