A quick post about running and the practice of following a CLEAR plan.
I’m trying to run 50 marathons in 50 states. See: Update I.
I ran in the Columbus Marathon this weekend. This brought my tally up to seven states. Just 43 more to go!
The weather and race conditions were perfect – making for my fastest and most enjoyable marathon yet. Growing up and living in Columbus, OH this was also a ‘home course’. It was motivating to see friends, family and familiar terrain.
Marathons represent one of the few areas of our life where progress toward the goal is VERY CLEAR. If you take a step, you’re closer to the finish… it’s that simple. Somewhere around mile 18 or 19 you repeat this mantra over-and-over… it’s the faith in this simplified plan that gets you to the goal.
Obviously, a lot of correlation between this insight and other areas of life. I think this is one of the reasons why many marathon runners are older (when compared to other sporting feats)… as life becomes more scattered with work and family a CLEAR goal and plan (from training to race-day) provides a release.
A marathon is a pretty clear goal: Go 26.2 miles. 16 weeks in advance of a marathon you commit to a CLEAR training plan. If the plan calls for six miles, you run six miles. No thinking. You have a CLEAR goal. This makes it easier to TRUST a CLEAR plan. You then put all your energy into executing.
For me, marathon running offers a way to PRACTICE the art of goal setting, planning and execution… followed by a the celebration!
—-
Special congrats to our For Impact Coach in the northeast, Mike Gemm, for completing his first marathon (Providence, RI) on Sunday
Any runners out there in the For Impact Community? Let’s run a marathon in your state! Let me know. Just can’t be OH, VA, MD, NC, MI, IN or CA 🙂 I will be in the northeast on Nov 6 so thinking about running in the Manchester, NH race on Nov 7.
