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Week 29: When We Find Out If Our Best was "Enough" & Shattering the Chains of Our Weak Minds

Sometimes cool words get overused to the point of becoming cliché.

Epic is one of them.

All bullshit aside, it was an epic week.

For starters, my wife and I went to see Nickel Creek, a bluegrass group last Thursday. We don’t get out much these days, so splurging for third row seats happened. The show was great and it was a wonderful night out listening to beautiful music with a gorgeous lady.

We caught up on recent trips and tribulations. We ate cheap Greek food.

It was rad.

Then things got interesting.

Leadership

“Get promoted at your job up to management;

Plot a long time finally your plan is met.” -Blackalicious, Make You Feel That Way

 At the beginning of 2023, I was talking about goals with one of my newer sales reps.

He told me he wanted to win Circle of Excellence, or President’s Club, whatever your company calls it.

Putting on my manager hat, I said “Great! Let’s come up with a plan and make it happen!”

We came up with a plan.

That rep executed the plan.

Sprinkle in a little good fortune on top…

And last week we found out he made it.

I’m a competitive person, I want to win. But it means so much more when we win together. Make no mistake, I am in no way trying to say I did anything other than make suggestions during the process.

The best part was that person was on vacation, so I got to make the phone call to let him know.

That feeling…that feeling right there is why I wanted to lead people.

Now we have to find out how to do it again.

Which is a great problem to have.

Couch to Ultramarathon…and Beyond

It was another frosty morning as we lined up to run another 50k in the woods of Ohio.

While the weather had been gorgeous for two weeks, the night before the race saw six inches of fresh snow dumped on the course.

Here we go again.

But this time I was ready. The painful lessons of the last one still quite fresh in my mind, I averted the worst of my mistakes while still managing to find more things to improve upon.

In my plan to get as many calories as possible before the start, I got the most calorically-dense food I could think of: the Kro-nut. A frosted croissant. About 600 calories and 100 grams of sugar and fat.

This turned out to be a great idea on paper only.

While good for calories, it was nutritionally empty of everything I needed to sustain a long effort. As a result, I felt great at the start from the sugar high, but crashed halfway through the first 10k.

Either way, I packed my own food and water and Jacqueline was there to help support me at the aid stations.

To avoid succumbing to the ego-monster, I walked out of the starting area. In dead last.

With the ego subjugated, it was time to run.

I’m not sure what I was expecting to be honest.

Did I think I would magically gain some new level of fitness and run so much faster only a month later? To figure it all out after one race?

To be sure, there were marked improvements. I didn’t start too fast. I kept eating and drinking. I didn’t fall in a frozen stream or in a ravine this time.

But just like last time, dark thoughts started swirling around mile 28. I began to question my ability. My desire. My toughness. My want factor.

Trying to change the energy, I had a big snack and put in earbuds for the first time all day.

A few minutes later, Greg Plitt was talking in my ear, telling me that being successful in big goals is often a lonely road; and oftentimes we wouldn’t be amongst friends but with only our shadow instead.

With the sun at my back, I looked up to realize I was indeed running with my shadow. By myself. In the woods. After 29.3 miles.

Something changed in me that moment.

The chains that held back the governor in my mind were shattered, perhaps forever.

My pace immediately intensified.

The last four miles of the race were the most fun I’ve yet had in ultrarunning. I ran my fastest miles at the end of the longest race I’d ever run. I was flying around corners (seemingly) and charging up hills on tired legs.

It was mind-blowing and I wouldn’t have believed it had it not happened to me.

It was primal, free, and exhilarating chasing down exhausted ultrarunners as my energy levels soared with each person I passed.

I was slipping and sliding on the mud and ice, hooting and hollering while delirious from running all day.

And it was amazing.

I sprinted up the final hill and crossed the finish line ready for more. It felt like I could run forever.

In the end, my finishing time was only a few minutes faster this time around. But how I felt about the race and my condition afterward were night and day different. The first time around I finished exhausted, depleted and freezing.

This time I finished strong with a smile on my face.

So now it’s time to level up again.

100 kilometers in the Virginia mountains await me at the end of the summer.

But first, a little running break is in order.

All running and no golf has made Jack a skinny boy.

Thanks for reading.

“A mind once expanded by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions.” -Oliver Wendell Holmes

Live triumphantly. See you next week.