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Week 15: Sending that “I’m Sorry Email”, Training Milestones, & Bringing Old Friends on New Crazy Ideas
Viktor Frankl once said, “We can bear any how with a compelling enough why.”
As the year grows old, it’s becoming harder to stay focused. We’re tired. Beat down. Over it.
It’s time like this when we must remind ourselves of those “why’s.”
And if those “whys” are no longer sufficient?
Well, maybe it’s time to reconsider if they’ll still important to us. And if not?
Time to upgrade.
Leadership
One of the constant problems with being a leader is not having all the answers when I want to always be the hero. Always be right. Always have the solution.
I realized this is another problem rooted in ego, my constant nemesis.
I reacted emotionally recently to something at work and ran off to battle without gathering all the information.
Predictably, I later had to send one of those “I’m Sorry, and I Was Wrong” emails.
Let me tell you that no amount of writing practice makes those easier.
And so as it seems to always go, another week, another painful reminder that I can do better and be better when it comes to leading people.
You buy the ticket, you take the ride.
Couch to Ultramarathon
I’ve spared y’all the details recently, as nobody cares how far my long run is, or how many miles I’m running this week.
But this past weekend was a milestone (pun fully intended) run.
20 miles.
It had been 15 years since I’d run that far. And there’s no way around it, 20 miles is 20 miles.
(Profound I know, aren’t you glad you signed up for this?!?)
I secretly both dreaded it and longed for the proving ground aspect of it over the last two weeks. After a restless night, the alarm went off at 5:30am.
Showtime.
Setting out in the early morning dark with no music, I was alone with my thoughts for some time.
I didn’t see another soul for two hours, or about 11 miles.
In my solitude, my mind turned over all the problems and troubles of the week. By the time the run was over, solutions seemed closer, more possible and within reach.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if you don’t find the answers to your problems after a 4-hour run, you ain’t getting them.
Philosophical Dad Stuff
One big reason I’ve tried to take on increasingly more difficult goals the last few years has been my kids.
There’s never been anyone alive I’ve wanted to impress more than my children. The good thing is, they’re young, so lots of things impress them right now.
Boy, do I have a rude awakening when they become teenagers!
Okay great, write for 500 days. Cool. Turn it into a book. Cool. Run an ultramarathon. Cool.
Lesson learned, people can do hard things when they want to. I get it. Blah, blah, blah.
But this past week another lesson revealed itself.
I’d been scheming to get someone in on my wild dreams of running UTMB (Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc) in the French Alps.
Apparently, it’s pretty common to hallucinate on 100-mile races. And it seems like having a buddy with you while exhausted and hallucinating in the mountains would be a good thing.
You know, for safety and shit.
But here’s the catch: any idiot can run a marathon. It takes a special kind of idiot to run an ultramarathon.
The answer struck me like lightning; an old friend from college who was both a good runner and totally willing to do stupid stuff with me.
A problem however: I hadn’t talked to this guy in over 10 years. I got home and sent an email, as I had no phone number.
That next morning at 8:15am, an old familiar voice was calling. We caught up; talking about kids, life, love, and career. I told him about the ultimate goal of UTMB and he didn’t call me crazy.
And a few hours later, a text came in.
“When are we doing this?”
Game. On. LFG.
The totally convoluted moral of story?
Reach out to old friends and bring them in on your crazy ideas.
They may just be waiting for your call.
“The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” - Michelangelo
Live triumphantly. See you next week.