Hog Brothers Payin the Price

I was speaking with an amazing woman and we some how got onto the topic of mental toughness. She had mentioned that she was on the crew team in college. On the crew team the person that sits and steers and yells at you would say give it all you got for 30 seconds, anyone can do anything for 30 seconds. After that 30 seconds was a phrase that would inspire her to give all that she has.
For those of you that may not know what a hog brother is, its a term of endearment that out football coach gave the Offensive and Defensive lineman. I went to school in West Valley where there are some large Polynesians and needless to say we were not a group of small young men. Coach Gerke was a mad man. He had tattoos and chew constantly spewing from his lower lip. He was also the best line coach Hunter High has ever seen. We had these 6x8 planks painted up that were for hitting drills. On Monday they were also ceremoniously placed to form a square were the hog of the week was announced and given the smelly, torn, stained, symbolic shirt signifying that you owned Friday night as the Lineman of the game. This shirt was well worn and had little pigs on it that became a token of pride among us. Early in the season I had a less then stellar performance during practice and myself and my fellow hog brothers had the pleasure of putting in some overtime or "OT" as Gerke would say. Gerke was a strong believer in conditioning. Everyday I wanted to tell Gerke the Jerk to fuck off and quit with plans of rejoining the next day. Gerke would during conditioning or "OT" say, "You have to pay the price to be the best." If you want to be the best you have to pay the price.
Now in law school I have remembered what it is that I want the most out of life. I have wanted to go to law school for a long time. Just walking in the door the first day I was filled with a sense of accomplishment. Now during Finals I find myself in a similar situation as I did during the dog days of summer during two-a-days, exhausted, battered in body and soul, aches and pains that I have no idea where they came from. Not knowing if I could keep this up in order to finish strong. Wanting to quit just to try to come back tomorrow. Deep within me came the echo of "you got to pay the price to be the best." That's all I needed.