Sunday, July 13, 2008

Good Day for a 10 Mile run




Busy day yesterday. Started with running the Nissan 10 Mile Race in downtown Toronto.

The weather was beautiful for a run. Light drizzle. About 18 degrees C (which is a bit warm but still OK). Overcast. Interesting how weather can be good for some activities and not so good for others.

I started the run feeling good. It was a fairly small race so I passed the start line in less than 30 seconds. But there were enough people that it was tough to strike a pace for the first K.

By just after the second K, I started to see 5 K runner who were running an out an back course come back towards us. It motivated me since I felt I was running strong that they had not started coming back at me earlier.

The rain had let up so I was starting to heat up a bit by 5 K. But it still felt good.

By 8K, I started to think - Why did I not just do the 5 K? and started to wonder about the intelligence of running in miles when we are Canada. We should be doing things in Kilometers. Although by 8K I also started to play games. For example, at every K mark, I ran 30 paces (which is about 1 tenth of a K) hard. I do this as it keeps my speed up.

By 11, I could finally say I run 5 K often so this should be easy to finish. And as 12, 13, 14 clicked by, it got easier and I could feel the end.

At 15, I pushed for 60 paces. Eased back but continued to pass people. I was determined to finish strong. But exhaustion (and lack of training) was kicking in so I slowed until I saw the finish. One runner passed me at a very fast pace so I sped up and passed several other runners.

In the end, I finished in 1:23:15 or about 8:20 per mile. Almost fast enough pace to qualify for Boston if I kept it up for another 16 miles.

There are similarities with running and business:

1. Success goes to those who prepare. My finish was commensurate with how much training I had done (clearly not enough).


2. Success goes to those who focus. I do a lot more than running (like weight lifting). This lack of focus hurts my running.


3. Success goes to those who persist.. Just showing up and keeping moving forward leads to success.


4. Success goes to those who are willing endure a bit of pain. (An old martial arts expression comes to mind Pain is temporary, pride is forever)



And then last night I went to the Elora Summer Festival concert by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa

4 Comments:

At 8:40 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

really like the parallels Jim -- and oh so true :)

also appreciated the reminder on speed reading -- the timing was perfect.

Thanks, as ever, for some great prompts to keep focused - and pressing forward.

Cheers, A

 
At 12:21 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I haven't been to the Nissan 10 mile race but from what I hear, a lot of people use it as training for the Scotiabank Marathon that will take place later this year.

There was a great trail race over the weekend at Rattlesnake Point. 12.7 km and very challenging with trails that run up and down the side of the escarpment. Highly challenging but highly recommended!

Dave Sterritt
www.forklifttips.wordpress.com

 
At 10:29 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Jim,

I work for marketing at Synnex US and was pleasantly surprised to see that you have a blog. And, the more posts I read, I realize that you have some great messages to convey! I look forward to reading more!

Julie Mock

 
At 3:38 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mr. Estill,

Your blog is very inspiring to me, particularly this post. I've started running in the past 2 months and find your advice very helpful to my running and to my everyday life. Thank you so much for the time you put into this blog, and having relatable material.

Jordyn

 

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