Thoughts on the Run

1:10:45 – 6.5 miles

Sometimes you have to think crazy in order to redefine everything.

That’s my ah ha moment of my run this morning. Every once and awhile a line comes to me like this that allows my brain to drift for a few miles. It brought me back to registering for my first ultramarathon. The Silver Rush 50, 50 miles at altitude in infamous Leadville, Colorado. My thoughts and feelings the day I registered for that race are still vivid in my memory. What was I thinking? I’ve never ran the entire way of 26.2 miles. Yes, I have completed 7 marathons, but with walking involved. Who was I to think that I would be able to make it 50 miles on my feet? Is that physically possible based on the little training I have? I approached that race day as I do everyday … with a smile and positive attitude. I completed my first ultramarathon ready to tackle the next challenge.

Looking back at history, every great invention started with a crazy idea. The Pharaoh told Imhotep to build him a great pyramid in the desert and he did. Commander Neil Armstrong was told to leave the planet and land on the moon and he did. Steve Jobs said to make a digital music player smaller then a credit card and they did. Someone has a grand idea of what could happen, and together people find a way to make it reality. It’s a matter of surrounding yourself with people that think this way in order to accelerate great things happening.

Take a look at the original Star Trek television episodes. Doors that open automatically when you approach them, handheld scanners, and communication devices allowing you to talk to people thousands and thousands of miles away. Crazy talk for the 1970’s. Expected and even considered low-tech today.

We have made great advancements in the past 100 years that I fear we are becoming complacent. Aside from the internet, what was the most recent great invention? What grand ideas do you have that seem so crazy that you even hesitate to say them outloud?