This weekend, the world’s greatest female distance runners took to the streets of Beijing to compete in the Olympic women’s marathon. U.S. representative and 2004 bronze medalist Deena Kastor was among the group and was expected to finish among the leaders of the race. However, just a few steps into mile 3, Kastor felt a “pop” in her foot, and she sank to the curb. She’d broken her foot, and her Olympic race was over.

Think for a minute about her situation. She’d trained hard for years, she had the expectations of her country on her shoulders, she had personal ambitions to do well, and she only had one shot. But injuries were out of her control, and she will now have to mentally deal with what happened.

Since I was a young boy growing up in Pittsburgh, I wanted to work for the Pittsburgh Steelers or the Pittsburgh Penguins. A family friend of ours was Mike Lange, who is a Hall of Fame announcer for the Pittsburgh Penguins. As a boy playing sports with his son, I would see Mr. Lange when he attended our games and get-togethers. I always admired him as a person, but I also admired the two championship rings that he always wore. On several occasions, Mr. Lange let me wear his Stanley Cup Championship rings on my fingers. It was those moments when I knew that all I wanted was to win a ring of my own.

Lately I’ve been having some “if I” moments in my life. I love the TV show “The Biggest Loser” and wonder how, if I lost some weight, my knee might not hurt as much. But then I don’t change how I eat or exercise. Then I hear my friends talking about playing hoops on Saturday mornings and think that, if I try to play, I could get back into shape again. But then I never make the effort to try. My intentions are good, but my heart is not changing. What’s the deal?