Two Days' Runs

OK.  Yesterday I ran 14.1 at an 8:41 pace.  Wow, did that feel easy.  If anything, since I ran it with my training partner of three years with whom I have run many times that distance at 8:00 or 7:45, it felt crazy slow.  But it also was better for my body.  There is the goal of going fast just to get in the miles.  Then, there is the goal of going far now so I can go further and faster later.  This is called patience.  Some would say that just running 14 miles is a sign of patience.  I'd say that I have to remind myself that 14 miles is only the beginning of patience.  Fourteen miles at a pace that is right for what I am trying to do now is a sign of true patience.  I keep hearing that from a coach I met at Boston last year.  And my running partner and I have said that to each other so many times, but finally found a way to live up to what we claim.

What made it more interesting was an African proverb a friend had posted on social media: If you want to go fast, go alone.  If you want to go far, go together.  That just fits so well.  And a friend of mine pointed out that it described her run that morning, too.

And, of course, we sang a song at church that quotes from Isaiah 40 about running and not growing weary.  God will be my strength.  I think that on this particular day it was just as important that God was my patience.  Maybe strength of character or strength of will rather than physical strength.

I followed yesterday with 6 today at 8:32.  Nice and easy.  That was after I had worn my Boston Marathon jacket from last year to a lacrosse game yesterday.  A friend of a friend (the friend is a fellow parent on my son's lacrosse team), saw it and thought she had to stalk me to ask questions.  As it turned out, our mutual friend provided the introduction.  This year will be her first time at Boston.  I gave her some advice.  It was fun.  I sometimes forget how fast my running is, as I am always comparing myself with people who are yet faster.  Another piece of wisdom I have seen in several posts lately--don't compare but just enjoy being who I am.  Take it all in

The miles put me at 561.  That is already over the 14 week total I had planned and I still have a seven mile track workout tomorrow.  That puts me on South County Road 220 W in Greensburg, IN.  I had been tracking along I-74 on small side roads for a while.  This puts me between I-74 and US-50, although the route doesn't go south to US-50 for the foreseeable future.

Final fun thought for tonight.  A friend sent me this picture:

with the comment that it was too bad I could not use it for my blog.  That, of course, is like a challenge.  What do I think of when I see this picture?

I think of asking the cat, "Why are you there?"  Then the cat would give the answer in the caption.  How does that relate to me?  Well, why do I run?  Because I have legs that can carry me and a heart that can power me.  Why am I on a virtual pilgrimage?  Because I have the internet to guide me and I use the progress as a way of marking my own progress?  Why did I ask a coach for advice?  Because I want my running to be all that it can be.  Things are there.  Things are available.  They seem to be there for a purpose.  So why not make use of them.  Why to run.  Why to think it is as a pilgrimage.  Why do I worry about all this symbolic stuff and not just be practical?  Because that is just how my mind thinks and puts things together.  Just like the cat saw something warm and thought it would be useful.  

40 Days to Better: Day 25

Today's run was my first on a treadmill in a while.  Despite the fact that many of my running friends don't like treadmill runs, I got a great workout this morning. I had a half mile warmup and then ran 10K at a 6:40 pace to finish in 41:20.  I believe that is my best ever.  It is a full minute faster than my best track.  And I did run with a slight up incline the whole time.  So, now a bad showing.  

Why did I take the treadmill option?  Well, it was a day when despite my surprising consistency on track runs lately (and my main alternative to the treadmill was a track 10K), I still felt the need for a very controlled experience.  And today that is exactly what I had.  I stayed at the 6:40 pace the whole time, except for a brief time when I sped it up one notch higher (to a 6:35 pace) to make the time even out to an average of 6:40. The treadmill provides the guidance for me and I can focus on my form, on how my legs were feeling, on my breathing, and on my cardio.  And, on how controlled I felt.  

So, it is using a mechanical device to provide guidance so I can focus on any number of other things that will also help me to improve.

So, thinking about how this related to the rest of life on my road to better, I come to another meeting I had with my leadership coach today at which she provided exactly that--guidance.  While this issues are specifically work related, it was a reminder to me that even with six months of leadership at the business school under my belt, I still have plenty of opportunities to learn more about the nuances of leadership.

An interesting side note is that my coach described me as "strangely excited" about the transition to administration when she first met me.  But she also chalked that up to my general optimism toward life.  While she was wondering all along, "Does he know what he is getting himself into?"  Well, I have come a long way.  I am making decisions that are much different and more informed and better than what I would have made six months ago.  I have benefitted from guidance from others.

And, now I am starting to provide the guidance.  Guiding decision making.  Guiding a new direct report who arrived yesterday and is beginning to feel her way around (who had to look in my office to determine where the "personality" is as she thinks of me as having a lot of personality--it turned out that she simply had not looked in the right place to see where all my personal "stuff" was to really understand the interesting things I bring).

And, of course, I have had lots of opportunity to receive guidance about running, guidance about marriage, guidance about education, guidance about parenting, and guidance about any number of others things in life recently and in the past.  So, I take my lesson in understanding the need for guidance in my running this morning, and think of it as a reminder to examine my actions and my needs and to determine where I need guidance and when to seek it in the rest of my life as well.  

40 Days to Better: Day 19

An originally unplanned day off from running.  Although after running four days in a row that included my best track workout in a long time and my best 10K on the roads possibly ever, I'm not worried.  Tomorrow I will do either 10 or 13.1 in my continuing quest to run a great half marathon on October 12.  We will see what the new day brings when it gets here.

In the meantime, I have a thought from yesterday.  I have mentioned before that I had a very insightful leadership coach.  This type of person can go by different titles.  She works in an organization within the University called talent management and organizational development.  The key is that when I took the position she helped me to assess the situation and to consider ways to improve the probability of success though my leadership around or through certain complexities in the organization and in interpersonal issues.

Along the way she has also recommended a number of books including The Answer to How is Yes by Peter Block.  (I don't have any particular reason the support Amazon, but the link I have provided was just the easiest way to get to the book.)  The book has brought up a lot of issues for me.  The basic premise is that a person should focus on what really matters rather than on just getting everything done that is forced on them by the outside world.  We have the opportunity to play a role in constructing our own reality.  The concepts of intimacy (presence and reality), idealism, and depth are important.  The author realized intimacy (as defined above) dealing with his own body through returning to a sport.

The fact that the author writes about what matter and dealt with this through (at least in part) sport make it seem like the coach chose this just to help and challenge me.

The section I am in at present is even more challenging.  The author describes instrumentalism.  What he calls acting as part of the system designed to maximize the production of stuff.  (I'm paraphrasing.)  He strongly contrasts economics (about maximization and productivity) with art (generally capturing the idea of seeking meaning).  The author writes about these as if they are mutually exclusive.

Perhaps he only means to suggest that in their archetypes they are mutually exclusive.  Perhaps I would agree with that.  Where I struggle with this part of the book is that I was trained for five years in graduate school as an economist.  But I (and many others who study economics) love the arts.  In fact, I see seeking meaning (e.g., this blog itself) as valuable.  In fact, economists around the world have been trying to figure out how to place a dollar value on ideas.  (Perhaps that is the quintessential example of what Peter Block is trying to get us to avoid--why does an idea need a dollar value other than for the sake of calling it productivity?)

I don't think that people who seek to do things efficiently are necessarily any less likely to seek meaning.  I don't think that people who do things to maximize their wealth and well being necessarily are any less likely to be able to set their personal ambitions aside and to think about the well being of the whole.

Is there a tension?  Of course.  But at least for me that tension is healthy.

That tension guides me to make sure that what I am doing in all parts of my life is consistent with a higher purpose.  Consistent with some sense of spirituality.  Consistent with being better than just being "all about me".  Consistent with being the best I can be for all of those for whom I choose to be present and intimate (in Peter Block's sense of the word).

Recognition of that tension can then help to continue to guide me to being better.  I have to manage that tension.  Even within doing "what matters" there are competing goals.  There are competing interests.  There are competing ways of realizing what I feel in my heart I have been called to do.  There will always be tradeoffs (says the economist in me) while I find ways to realize what matters most.  On my lon term road to better the "most" part (beyond the well being of my wife and children) evolves over time and my capacity to realize it in a variety of ways changes as I gain experience and as my body ages.