"It's just a grueling, grueling run.
In order to move to a higher level (which comes with a better salary and better roles), a dancer must perform in a brief but psychologically grueling two-solo competition before a jury.
As of Day 8 of the grueling two-week competition, which features daily stretches of up to 600 miles of difficult terrain, newcomer Ricky Brabec and his custom Honda leads the pack of five Americans.
"I came to Princeton thinking, oh, well, I'll play here and that will be the end of squash," he said, noting that there is not much of a post-college amateur squash circuit and that the world professional competition is grueling.
For Zlatni Prsti, which had practiced for months for the competition, the performance was grueling.
Until 1999, championships were determined in grueling matches between the champion and a challenger who usually had to win a series of competitions to earn the right to play for the title.
Increasingly desperate women are forced into an annual competition for day care slots that is grueling enough to merit its own name, "hokatsu," and is said by some to surpass the notorious, stress-filled job hunt endured by Japanese college students.
But a primary campaign really is a lot like a baseball season: When it's a competition rather than a coronation, it's long enough and grueling enough that form and fundamentals win out over hot streaks and good fortune.
His optimism has not yet been dulled by grueling practices or seeing how far along the West Coast offense is against real competition.
Since the 1995 match between Mr. Kasparov and Viswanathan Anand of India, who is the current men's champion, the number of games has been steadily reduced — perhaps by a desire by the players to avoid grueling matches that can stretch for weeks, but also by the organizers, whose costs rise as the competitions continue.
