I came across this article and felt like posting the entire text here.

Why runners usually make great employees.

February 21, 2009

My good friend and super personal trainer Holly DiGiovine sent out an email over the weekend that struck a cord with me. Here’s some of what she had to share:

When you have a goal that is as huge as the marathon-it will “keep you honest.” It’s not like a smaller goal that you can announce and then put off or fake your way through. Once you sign up, commit months to training, and take your first step on race day-you better have done your homework.

The beauty of this is that it goes against 99% of the natural tendencies of our culture that favors gratification without effort or devotion. But is that kind of achievement ever as satisfying? Linda Hill once told me she loved the quote, “There is no glory in training, but there is no glory without training.” In no way is this more true than in running.

And business.

One thing I’ve found over the years is that many of the folks I train with (and race against) are for the most part as devoted to their jobs (if not more) as they are to running or cycling or triathlon.

Unlike participation in say, golf or softball or basketball - no offense to club/league sports - the type of determination, discipline and emotional focus that comes with training day in, day out for extremely challenging endurance events (often by yourself) tends to bleed over into people’s 9-5’s.

Whether you’re training for a marathon, a century or the Ironman triathlon, one thing you quickly find out is that there’s no room for bullshit out there on the pavement. You either do the work or you’re screwed. Politics won’t get you to the finish line. It doesn’t matter who you know or how well you can work the system. When you’re out there, every weakness bubbles up to the surface and stares you in the eye. Lack of preparation, lack of motivation, lack of dedication will all come back to bite you in the ass. there’s nowhere to hide. They will all find you and jump up on your back to stop you dead in your tracks. The choice becomes this: Do you let them stop you, or do you accept them and keep going?

You learn a lot about yourself, training for that type of event.

You learn a lot about how to break thresholds and get past your own little ego, training for events like these. When you’re tired and sore and hungry but you still have four miles to go, guess what? You still have four miles to go. How you get through these last four miles is entirely up to you. Nobody cares whether you walk those last four miles or run, or hail a cab. Nobody made you set 26.2 miles as a goal. Or 100 miles. Or 144+.

Once you’ve broken past your lack of will and learned to keep going, you are transformed. A similar thing happens to Marines during training. At some point, who you used to be before you went beyond what you thought your limitations were, before you kissed excuses goodbye, before you left all of the bullshit that stood in your mind’s way ceases to exist. You become someone else.

That someone else, the marathoner, the long distance cyclist, the triathlete, the Ironman, he or she walks into your place of work with you every morning.

We all work with two types of people: Partisans of the least amount of effort, and dedicated professionals.

The latter aren’t all marathoners or triathletes, but I have yet to meet an Ironman or marathoner who didn’t take his or her intensity and dedication to their job.

Not that there’s anything wrong with drinking a case of beer and watching sports on TV all weekend, but who you are outside of your work does have parallels with who you are when you are at work.

Something to think about.

-- Olivier Blanchard

http://thebrandbuilder.wordpress.com/2009/02/21/why-runners-usually-make-great-employees/

I thought about commenting on recent economic turmoil, vanishing jobs, and a battered tech sector but this video puts life into perspective:

Live...
More than your neighbors.
Unleash yourself upon the world and go places.
Go now.
Giggle, no laugh.
No...stay out past dark,
And bark at the moon like the wild dog you are.
Understand that this is not a dress rehersal.
This is it...your life.
Face your fears and live your dreams.
Take it all in.
Yes every chance you get...
come close.
And by all means, whatever you do...
Get in on film.

-Jon Blais

I needed a cleaner look. That green was just too...pond scum.


Como se dice, the cat's out of the bag? I wore the Yorktown Triathlon shirt to work today. Imagine Clark Kent sans tie, shirt unbuttoned, glasses off after a hard day tracking down the daily beat, all the while exposing the slightest blue hue from his superhero suit, still on underneath it all - enough to warrant inquisitive looks from co-workers, but not enough to provoke questioning. Yes, I am mild mannered, soft spoken engineer by day - endurance enthusiast by night, complete with gadgets, gizmos and technical clothing that would make even Batman jealous.

As you will notice, this blog not only has a new look, but now a purpose.


Ironman.


No, not him:

What I am referring to is 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking and 26.2 miles of running. Consecutively. Without stopping. I've been meditating on this notion for some time now. The night I went for 1600m at the pool I knew what must be done.

This journey, well...whatever it is, will last 2 years, ending Fall 2010.

Join me as I rant, rave, ramble or otherwise waste time (both yours and mine) on this pursuit that will most likely end with by being administered an IV by an under-paid EMT in a medical tent late at night.

And the inevitable why? you ask.

But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?

We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not only because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

...Many years ago the great British explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he want to climb it. He said, "Because it is there."

Well, space is there, and we're going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked.

President John F Kennedy
Rice University - Houston, Texas
September 12, 1962