Instant Custom Signs – Drew Brims' Blog

Staying Committed To The Process

My friends know I’m a distance runner (I do it for fun!).  I’ve run three marathons (each time qualifying for Boston) as well as many shorter races. Qualifying for Boston is a difficult challenge for a recreational runner like me.  When you have a busy job, family and community commitments and health and financial considerations, it’s hard to make the time for all the training required to achieve that level of fitness.  To run a marathon, one must train for a minimum of 18 weeks and be in good physical condition to start with.  The training includes running 5 or 6 days a week including long runs of 20 – 34 kms on the weekend.

If this sounds like a lot of training – it is. But if you don’t do the training, you won’t finish in your targeted time.  Isn’t this a lot like life and the business world?  If we are not prepared to commit to our careers and the training or preparation required, we will not achieve our goals.  Worse, if we have no goals, how will we prepare ourselves or create strategies?  There has to be a finish line.  There has to be a timeline and we need a strategy.

Sometimes along the way, there are roadblocks over which we have no control.  Health issues can affect our business life as well as our family and sporting endeavours.  Changes in the environment in which we operate can have a huge effect on career, family and sports.  The recession we’re experiencing now is not something any of us has any control over but it’s had a huge effect on nearly all of us.  How we adapt to the changes will determine how we survive or if we survive at all.

During my first marathon, three years ago, my calf muscles began to severely cramp at 26 kms even though I had run much longer distances without problems.  I hobbled along, unable to run properly.  I walked, jogged, stretched and considered my options.  Quit? Never – I’d spent too much time and energy getting to this point.  Run through the pain? Impossible – my legs were buckling under me.  Finally I decided that if I had to walk the rest of the way, that’s what I would do. After walking, slow jogging and stretching for 10 kms, I was surprised to find I could start running again.  I had planned to do the run in 3 hours, 45 minutes but my finishing time was 4 hours and 46 seconds.  To my delight, I still qualified for Boston even though it was much slower than I had planned.  It’s a good thing I didn’t quit when every fibre of my body was trying to tell me to.

In our careers and our personal lives there are stumbling blocks.  We don’t cause them, we don’t wish them to happen, it’s just part of life.  We can buckle under and let these adversities defeat us and forfeit everything we’ve invested up to that point.  Or we can modify our goals, adapt to the new reality and finish standing up and smiling.

I am a marathon runner and I’m proud to say I finished the 2009 edition of the Scotia Bank Waterfront Marathon on September 27^th in 3 hours and 51 minutes. Boston,… here I come!

Please reply below and let me know…Are you a runner too?

Tags: Boston Marathon, Commitment, Health, Marathon, Running, Sports