Some pounds and some years ago, I was a moderately proficient long-distance runner.
I was in good shape and had a coterie of running friends who I would train with. This took the sting off of running long distances. Running, in fact, became a large part of my social life.
In any event, I started running marathons. One a year for about a dozen years.
What I learned from logging all these miles is that there are no easy ones.
You can't gallop at the beginning--you need restraint--because there are tough stretches ahead. You can't give up when you're slogging uphill, because the next mile might be downhill. You can't think too far ahead. You have to take each mile as it comes.
Work is like this too.
There are no "easy" assignments any more.
Every project, no matter how miniscule and seemingly inconsequential matters. Everything is under a microscope.
Along the way, there are, naturally, moments of darkness, despair, maybe despondency.
Those moments, like miles 16-22 in a marathon, you have to muscle through.
You can't give in to fatigue.
Or boredom.
Or aches and pains.
You have to, this may be trite, put one foot in front of the other until you get where you're going.
That's how you get shit done.
Hi George,
ReplyDeleteHave you read Murukami's 'What i talk about when i talk about running'? Great read. It took me back to my college days when I was a footballer until i met this groin injury. How i miss those days when just for warm up we would run 5 miles. Running i think keeps you sane.
Dinesh, I haven't read that Murukami, though my wife has. I am slowly getting back into long, slow distance.
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