Run Your Own Race

Pursuing the right goals on the racecourse . . . and at the negotiating table.

Photo by Miguel A Amutio on Unsplash

“A disciplined mind leads to happiness, and an undisciplined mind leads to suffering.”

—Dalai Lama

Getting in the Race

It was one of my slowest half-marathons but — surprisingly — my most satisfying. That’s because my goals had nothing to do with finishing time.

Yes, I recently completed a 21km (13.1 mile) race, my first of that distance in several years. Like the rest of the running community, I hadn’t been able to race consistently during COVID and, frankly, I took a break from distance running.

But about six months ago, with the competitive itch needing a scratch, I decided to return to the half-marathon. I created a training schedule, plotted my workouts for the months leading up to the race, and calculated a range of time targets. Because that’s what we runners do, right? We set goals, work hard, and try to beat the clock.

Unfortunately, during my training cycle I suffered a few nagging injuries and found my ability to run diminished by various sche…