The G Running Diary

Damn Run: 1/24/03

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I still haven't run since that birthday run. For the first time in a long time, I didn't even run on the weekend. If it's painful at all to walk, you're not supposed to run. Sounds logical, huh? Many runners have a hard time figuring that one out. So, I could be super-dedicated and go the gym to do upper-body workouts since I shouldn't run. Or, I could justify this non-exercise time as part of my once a year break, that everyone needs, but nobody takes unless injured. There are plenty of other things going on. Work is busy. I spend a lot of time convincing myself that I like my job. Because it is demanding, I go through a range of emotions about it. There are days when I seriously consider quitting and rack my brains for alternatives, and other days when it seems like it's all worth it and I am proud of my accomplishments.

Speaking of that, for the first time work gave me a feeling that was similar to the high of finishing a hard run. Being the product manager, I am responsible for making sure our product ships out the door with the right set of features. Hitting the ship date is really important. Well, we hit it last week for the beta release. Along the way there were challenges, and even on the day of shipping, worries that we weren't going to make it. Just like an ultra run. When I was asked which was harder, I said shipping the product was, by far. When you run, you rely on yourself to push through the bad parts and get to that finish line. For shipping a product, you have to rely on everyone else involved. You have to push them to finish. That is harder for me.

The next exciting thing in running is new challenges. Even though there are plenty of 100 milers that I haven't done yet, I want to try other things. Provided my body holds up and I can solve my shoe problem, I want to do multi-day, multi-hundred runs. In running, I like to set goals and work toward them. In my work life, I seem to take it as it happens. I don't have grandiose plans. I just want to mostly like what I'm doing.