Today was the marathon.  I didn’t run it.  If you hadn’t heard I dropped out about 5 weeks ago during an 18 mile training run.  I have several excuses: my ankles hurt, my hips hurt, my knees hurt, I kept getting sick, people kept telling me that the ING Georgia Marathon was a hard first marathon, etc.  Truth be told, most of these problems would probably go away if I would lose about 30 more pounds.

Do I regret dropping out?  Yes and no.  Yes, because I still really want to run a marathon and cross it off the “bucket list”.  No, because it was cold, windy, and nasty weather today.  I kept checking the time all morning and thinking, “At this point I would be about x miles”.  I wish I had made it but I have not given up.  I still plan to run a marathon and I plan to start working on losing those pesky 30 pounds… tomorrow!

I just finished reading Tribes by Seth Godin.  It takes me a while to finish a book sometimes because I get distracted by other things.  In this case my Runner’s World came in and I got back into playing Fallout 3 on my Xbox.  Seth’s writing style took me a little while to adapt to but overall I enjoyed the book and pulled several good things from it.  Here is quote the I specifically enjoying in the closing sections of the book (the book does not have chapters, which is non-traditional, which is part of the point the book makes):

If your organization requires success before commitment, it will not have either.

The same thing goes for products.  If a company waits for a product to be successful before committing to it then it will never be successful.  There are very few products that hit the market and are an instant success.  Instead, you have to get the product out there, improve on it, market it, and work hard to make it into a success.  To use other business terms you may have to “invest” in a product well before it takes off (maybe years).  This is harder for a company that already has one successful product because the new product is always “behind” and you have to work harder on it.  But, in the end, would the time, cost, and effort be worth having two successful products instead of just one?

I just received an email response to an email I send my congressman, Phil Gingrey, in regard to the whole AIG bonus fiasco.  Here is a snippet:

The only way to prevent this misuse of taxpayer dollars from ever happening again is to take the federal government out of the business of propping up private companies - choosing which will succeed and which will fail. I have cosponsored H. Res. 199 - which calls for a moratorium on these massive, taxpayer-funded bailouts.  Real economic recovery cannot begin until we return to rewarding hard work, demanding responsibility for mistakes, and letting the free market work.  If we truly want to encourage economic growth and job creation, then we must reduce the tax burden on hardworking American families, small business owners, and retirees.

Finally, a Republican that has it straight in his head that the federal government needs to stay out of private business and has the guts to say it.

This morning I ran a 10k with the goal of qualifying for the Peachtree Road Race this summer.  You don’t have to qualify in order to run but a friend that has run the Peachtree before said that it is better if you can qualify for one of the running groups.  The “open” division is any combination of walkers, people out for a Sunday stroll, or people who just want the t-shirt.  I needed a time of under 55:00 which is 8 minute faster than my previous PR at the 10k distance which is 1:03:00.  I just looked up the official results and my time today was 54:27 which is good enough to get into a running group for the Peachtree and a new PR at the 10k distance.  Yeah me!

I am wrapping up my first bout with Strep.  I can now say I have been there, done that, and have the nasty bruise on my backside to prove it.  I was in no way prepared for the havoc that Strep would wreak and I have no desire to ever get it again.

As I was driving into work on my first post-Strep day it occurred to me how I can let “Strep” creep into my professional life and make me less effective as an employee/leader.  It usually starts off as something small.  Maybe a spur of the moment comment like:

“They didn’t ask me before making that decision.”
“They don’t pay me enough to do that!”
“What has the company done for me this year?”
“I’m not invested so why should I care?”

Before I know it, I have let this little “germ” fester until I can no longer operate at my full capacity.  If I am not careful I can even spread this “germ” to my co-workers, they can catch it, and in turn they become a less effective employee.

So what should I do when this happens?  Exactly what I did for my Strep.  I addressed the problem.  In my case it was a giant shot in the backside.  Funny… many times that is what it takes at work too!