Thoughts on the Run

So this morning I hit the snooze button, reset the alarm for 5a, and rollback over. 10 minutes later I was out of bed and heading for the door. It was a dreary type of morning with clouds and wind, but I like that. Unfortunately today would be a treadmill day with making the 50 minute commute to the office.

Went through my routine of placing mac on office desk, quick email check for fires, and into the gym. To mix it up a little, I did a couple of 1 mile spurts to pick up the pace. That was nice.

At about 8 miles I was mentally shot. Wasn’t fuel as I had a GU at mile 4 and Honeystinger Waffle at mile 7. Easiest guess is that it’s life’s stress and pressure getting to me. Can only shut that stuff out for so long!

An hour later I find myself saying “I only ran 8 today.” Someone has lost perspective. Since when is an 8 mile practice run an “only”? This goes back to my thinking big mentality and getting frustrated when I don’t see results happening quickly enough. Unfortunately, my type of thinking doesn’t only apply to running, but is also carrying over to the professional world. I am very grateful to have a well-paying job and smart people to work with. Not getting the full picture on why we choose to go in a direction that aligns with a market, can place us ahead of competitors, and follows best practices, starts to get under my skin. When I go running, those thoughts and questions just spiral even more.

Another person that works in my building that I rarely interact with stopped by my desk today. He wanted to ask about the ultramarathon I ran and asked what my next race is. I let him know that in about 3 weeks I’m running the Denver Marathon for the American Cancer Society, but training has been low. I’m averaging less then 20 miles a week.

He responded with: You’re a fit guy that keeps himself light and a marathon is nothing new to you.

Wow! Someone understands! I have come to a point in my running life that I almost keep it a secret. 6 months ago I brought it up in every conversation because I found the topic exciting. After being faced with people either 1) don’t share the same passion about exercise or 2) just don’t exercise and are full of excuses, I’ve backed off on it. I still post my running logs to Facebook and Twitter as more of an FYI, and get emails from people asking for advice.

The proactive exercise message doesn’t seem to resonate with my circle. It’s time build a new circle.