The RunRunLive 4.0 Podcast Episode 4-311 – Boston Marathon 2015 Wrap-up
(Audio: link)
[audio:http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi4311.mp3]
Link epi4311.mp3
Intro Bumper:
Hello, Hello and Hello, my friends. Wow! A busy couple weeks since we last spoke. This time of year always makes me think about whether or not we have too many balls in the air. I’m really torn between whether having so many project going on at the same time is a bad thing or a good thing. I think it’s a little bit of both.
Having a lot going on forces you to focus on those things that are really important. But, when you do that you let other things slide and someone in your universe is bound to suffer. The other thing that I don’t like is when my life gets so full of activity that all the slack time is taken away. It means that any new or cool opportunity that floats by necessarily has to be neglected in the wash.
Since we last talked I ran the Boston marathon. I had a good day and I’ll give you the brief version of the race report in the first section today. I also got coach on the phone to talk about the race and my training because I think there’s a bunch of take-aways and learning form this one.
I managed to fundraise successfully for Team Hoyt. I did not catch Bryan and Rick. Even though it looks like Bryan had your typical first Boston experience he had too much of a head start on me. I made up 45 minutes on him but that wasn’t enough!
In the second section I answer a question about how to stay in a healthy lifestyle when you travel for business. Someone had asked the question in one of the LinkedIn groups I’m a member of – so I thought I’d give it some inspection.
The other major event I was involved in was the Groton Road Race. We pulled it off with no casualties and had another good day. We had a big change this year where we ran the 10K and the 5K simultaneously on the same course. It seemed to work out, we’ll see what the feedback is.
I ran the course in the morning and it really is a beautiful course on a spring morning with the sun coming up over the hills. The cows and barns throwing long shadows in the pastures. The old farm tractors resting in agricultural repose on the big hill up Common Street. The quiet punctuated by spring-busy birds and the occasional wild turkey call.
It’s close to a spiritual experience for me.
In the intervening week between Boston and Groton I did a couple bike rides and some yoga work. I took Fuji-san my old road bike out on Wednesday and felt pretty strong. I was able to get down into areo and feel comfortable.
On Friday I had a blast when I took my 29er out into the woods for the first time in a long time. I thought that I might not be able to ride the technical trails after so much time away from it. I had alswo forgotten how much fun it is hopping rocks and climbing and ripping though the mud-holes with my mountain-bike. I had a blast!
This time of year is busy. Busy for me. Busy for you. But that busyness can also be a time of joy and creativeness. Instead of lying around waiting for inspiration (literally ‘to be injected with spirits’) you are forced to do the job. And when you are forced to do the work the inspiration appears. The creativity appears.
Don’t be afraid of doing the work. Don’t be afraid of having too many things to do because as you start to execute on them the inspiration will come to you and the creative will find you when you embrace the work.
On with the show.
Section one – Running Tips
Boston Marathon 2015
https://runrunlive.com/race-report-boston-2015
Voices of reason – the interviews
Coach Jeff Kline from PRSFit
Home page
Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/prsfit
Patagonia Expedition link
https://www.facebook.com/PatagoniaExpeditionRace2016?fref=ts
Podcast on aerobic base
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-9-aerobic-base-aerobic/id577332876?i=340139363&mt=2
Section Two – Life Lessons
Following a healthy lifestyle on the road.
https://runrunlive.com/how-to-maintain-a-healthy-lifestyle-while-traveling-for-business
Outro
So my friends that’s a wrap of all the busy work I’ve been doing in the last few weeks. We have swept it all carefully into the collective dustbin of Episode 4-311.
Next week I’m going in for my heart procedure. They tell me I’ll have to take a week off from training but that I’ll be back to normal after that. I’m curious to know what normal is. If the procedure works what kind of shape am I in with this big base I’ve built up? How much of a leap would it be for me to get my speed back on top of that? How much of my speed will come back?
It’s new ground to be tilled in this adventure we call life.
I’ve got two races scheduled on the calendar. The first one is a ½ marathon with my running club buddies down on Cape Cod in July. The second, and certainly more auspicious, is the Hood to Coast Relay at the end of August. This is the oldest relay in America. It’s a bucket list item. I’ll be fundraising for a Portland cancer clinic and I plan to wrap some sort of mid-life crisis adventure around the race.
I’d also really like to run the Wapack Trail race this year which is the following weekend.
Depending on how I feel after the procedure I might take a swing at a qualifier, but I’ve been pushing the road work for close to 2 year’s straight now and the little voices in my head tell me I should probably switch sports this summer for a change of pace.
A quick note on the ‘how to qualify for Boston’ e-book that I wrote. I’m probably going to pull it off of Amazon and market it directly instead. I started writing a book plan for agents and publishers and realized that I had more social reach than they do. It would be silly for me to give up control and profits to them. Why not do it myself? If any of you want a copy just shoot me an email and I’ll give you one in trade for a charity donation or a review. You’re my friends and I love it when you read my work.
Breaking news! I acquired the domain “Qualifyforboston.com” I’m going to take a shot at building out a niche website and monetizing it. If any of you know how to do that – please help me out!
Since May is going to have some downtime in it for me I’m going to take a cue from Zen runner and try to write a blog post every day in my business blog, just to see if it makes a ripple and to experience the discipline.
I think the value of these ‘every day’ streaks whether it’s running, reading, writing or meditating is the transformational power. The repetition actually changes the way your brain works and you gain some great insights. The repetition reprograms the brain and takes advantage of the neuro-plasticity.
I’ll probably try to get the miracle morning routine kick started for that as well. Last thing I want is too much free time. Idleness for me is indeed the devil’s workshop.
Another project I’m working on is setting up a mastermind. A mastermind is a group of 4-7 like minded individuals that meets or has a weekly call to help each other solve problems, make progress towards goals and learn.
Here’s the offer; if you are a business person who wants to join my mastermind group shoot me an email. I’m looking for entrepreneurial and goal-oriented people that are willing to trust and share and help people. I’m looking forward to hearing from you. This isn’t about running. This is about business.
Finally, I want to talk about struggle. I see every day on social media, especially this time of year, people who are working through tremendous struggles. And I know it’s hard to realize when you’re in a struggle, but these are the best times.
These times of struggle are what you will remember as defining moments in your life. These are the things you will look back on as having outsized impact on your life’s trajectory. That is why we create struggles for ourselves when we don’t have any. We take on a race or a new job or a big project or a taxing relationship issue.
Why?
Because the truth is we strive on struggle. It brings out the best in us. But you have to know this when you are inside the struggle. You have to, at least in some small corner of your mind, realize that this time of struggle is an opportunity to define yourself.
And the way you define yourself in the middle of a struggle is the way you react to it. How you deal with it. You don’t have to be strong, but you do have to be honest and good. That might manifest as strength and bravery or it might manifest as empathy and leadership.
When you are inside the storm it’s hard to imagine. But it’s the struggles that define us – that’s the good stuff. That’s what brings out the best in us.
And as you, my friends, are struggling down the road, I’ll see you out there.
http://www.grotonroadrace.com/