"From Blisters to Boardrooms: Lessons in Leadership From Running a Marathon"

The Overlapping Lessons of Running a Marathon and Being a CEO

I recently accomplished a major personal goal by running my first full marathon earlier this year, just a few weeks after my 54th birthday. Even though I’ve always been somewhat athletic, as I got older running became more difficult.? I used to struggle to even run around the block without stopping or feeling sick, but after three years of hard work, participating in three half marathons and one David Goggins "4x4x48", I was ready to finally participate in my first full 26.2 marathon. "When I arrived at that moment, I still didn't look like a "typical" marathon runner. You might say that over the last three years, I did the opposite of what I should have done, putting on 20 pounds of muscle instead of getting lean.

My niece, who is more like another sister to me and was born when I was in sixth grade, ran alongside me, adding to the four sisters I already have. This made the experience even more special. Throughout each mile of the marathon, I learned new things about myself. I didn't listen to music during the race, so I had time in the silence, to be alone with my thoughts. Just before hitting mile 14, I thought I was going to easily finish the race, but as you'll see, things can and do change quickly on this kind of trek.

One of the best parts is many of the lessons I learned while preparing for and running the marathon. I saw that many of the same abilities needed to be successfully applied to being a leader in the workplace.?

Running a marathon taught me that preparation, resilience, persistence, dedication, and teamwork are all essential for achieving a goal. We all already know that as a business leader, you must prepare and plan to achieve your goals, remain resilient in the face of setbacks, persist through obstacles, and dedicate yourself to your mission. Doing all of this while building a strong team that works together towards a common goal is also crucial for success.

But you do this alone! Right? Wrong! It's not just about you...When you're running a marathon, you're not just competing against yourself. You're part of a subculture of runners, a family, all working towards the same common goal. I also had my Niece Katelyn on my hip most of the time, and we pushed each other nonverbally over the long hours of roadwork. We were a team and her success was my success. Similarly, being a business leader isn't just about your success; it's about creating a supportive and collaborative environment for your work family. By working together and supporting one another, you can achieve great things.

During the run, I was single-mindedly focused on my goal and had no time for anything else. As a leader, it's important to be fully committed to achieving goals and to stay focused on the desired outcome, regardless of the challenges that may arise.

Some people train like robots. NOT ME! I feel it's important to enjoy the journey and reward yourself for your hard work.?Although it's important to eat clean to achieve this kind of feat, and most of the time I did, I still allowed myself to have some cheat meals and even indulged in a full-on splurge weekend a couple of times to reward myself for a great week of training. If I can't reward myself by enjoying a pizza with my little guy, then what's the point, right? There's a fine line between indulgence and overindulgence, but I think it's important to have fun and enjoy the journey. Likewise, as a leader, it's important to create a positive and enjoyable work environment and to celebrate achievements along the way. Don't take yourself so seriously all the time. Enjoy the moment!

To get here, I created a training schedule and followed it religiously. There was no negotiation with myself, and if the calendar said to run, then that's what I did. Even though some people might find a monotonous training schedule boring, I found it helpful to establish a routine. I believe that repetition breeds comfort, and by consistently sticking to my schedule, my body became accustomed to what was expected of it. I didn't need that variety or spontaneity that some crave to stay motivated and engaged. Give me monotony all day, because practice makes perfect, right? Even if it's boring as hell! I'll be the President of the "Boring isn't Bad" club! Boring is amazing! Simplicity, calmness, focus, Gimme gimme gimme. Get to that state of flow, followed by that feeling of accomplishment. Give me some predictability in a world full of Chaos! Likewise, as a leader, it's important to establish routines and processes to help your team perform at their best. Embrace the boring and you easily can flip it on its head turning it into interesting and engaging.

If you want to finish this type of challenge, you can’t give up! ?DNF is not an option. DNF stands for the dreaded, "Did Not Finish." It is a term commonly used in marathons and other sports to describe someone who can't continue. Someone who for whatever reason does not complete the task at hand, and ultimately goes full Roberto Duran, "No Mas" mode, like he did vs Sugar Ray in 1980, usually for either injury or just plain exhaustion.? I had to birth the mindset that little setbacks would be an opportunity to learn, recalibrate, adjust, and get back on my horse.?I knew in the back of my mind that I trained better for my half marathons than I did for this first full marathon, but I didn’t let that enter my thought process after the horn. ?At mile 14 however, I got the first test of my determination and resilience.??Due to a drizzle in the morning that lasted for an hour or so, everyone was soaked through as we began the race. Also, before I left my house, in my haste to get to the event, I fumbled through a pile of sneakers in my dark garage and mistakenly grabbed the wrong black pair of kicks from my mountain of running shoes. I think these specific sneakers can be most fittingly described as comfortable walking shoes at best! I'm not sure exactly but you can look for yourself and see that one shouldn't be running in these clodhoppers. With the combination of these two obstacles, I felt like the Grim Reaper from one of the Final Destination movies was the "DNF" coming for me. Sure enough, I soon developed two huge blisters on each of my pinky toes, causing an electric shock to run up my legs with every step. After a while, I became used to the jolts, and because I didn’t think I could experience anything much worse than this feeling I ate each shock like a champ, but then at mile 18, my left blister popped.?My split-second first thought was that this should help with the pain, but boy was I wrong.?Immediately I realized that all the bursting of the blister did was amplify my agony to DEFCON 1.?Seconds later my right blister popped and joined the pain party.?I ran the last 8.2 miles on what felt like a combination of shattered glass, nails, and cactus thorns.?Running like this for 8.2 miles changed my pain tolerance threshold forever.?In the end, each of my toes had been completely shredded and left without any skin on them. Either way, I just followed the playbook, and I told my body to shut the hell up! Quitting never crossed my mind.??I was determined to finish and nothing was going to stop me from crossing that finish line, and not some stupid blisters.?The best part of this "crisis is an opportunity" 8.2-mile jaunt was that every other normal ache and pain you would typically get while running such a race got little to no attention from my brain.?The focus just stayed on the rhythmic and repetitive jolts!?Persistence pulled me through and on the bright side, and as a bonus two weeks later I got two "brandy new" shiny pinky toes after the skin grew back.?

As I crossed the finish line, exhausted and elated, I realized that running a marathon had taught me a lot about leadership. After letting it marinate for a few months and processing the whole experience I realized that in many ways the journey to becoming a successful business leader is like running a marathon.

Both take discipline and perseverance. Just like in marathon training, developing the skills and knowledge necessary to lead a team or run a business requires a lot of hard work and dedication. It requires discipline to consistently show up and put in the effort, even when it feels like an uphill battle or a major crisis occurs. I've had more than my fair share of crisis monsters knocking at my door for the past 30 years, that's for sure! But by staying focused on the end goal and pushing through the figurative blisters, I've achieved success.

Overall, I realized that the lessons I learned from running a marathon helped me become a better CEO. By staying disciplined, focused, and collaborative, I've been able to achieve success both in my personal and professional life. As a CEO, I've learned that success is not just about avoiding blisters in your career, but also about persevering through the blisters you inevitably encounter along the way. Embrace the scars people! Successful people either have them already or are waiting to get some on their way to being their best selves! Participating in this marathon was a transformative experience that taught me valuable lessons about perseverance and achieving success. I learned that it requires a combination of self-discipline, mental focus, and perseverance. These are essential traits that help you overcome the challenges that arise in pursuit of your goals. By staying committed and being persistent you can push through any obstacles and continue on your path to achieving AMAZING things.