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By Dave Veale For a number of years I have talked about running a marathon. Why? It was one of those things that I thought I should do...at least once. Earlier this year I made a commitment to be bold, so when a friend issued a challenge, I finally quit talking about it - and started training for the marathon.
I had no illusions of winning the marathon or mile 13breaking any speed records! [here's a picture taken at mile 13 - that's me on the right]
My goal was to finish - without major injuries. Having said this, I quickly learned that even my modest goal (by some standards) would require a commitment to training leading up to the marathon that reminded me of the commitment it takes to run and lead a business.
After all, running a business is no 100 meter dash. Running and leading a business requires many of the attributes that it takes to run a marathon - dedication, perseverance and hard work. There are many parallels that you can draw between running a successful business and running, and training for, a marathon. Here are four parallels that jumped out at me.
1) Set a ‘specific’ goal that is meaningful to you (as opposed to goals that someone else sets for you and can make you miserable). What do you think would stretch you, but not break you? If you achieved this goal, would you feel satisfied? My goal was to finish the marathon in 4 hours and not hate running after because I had pushed too hard. I decided not to get sucked into my ego, which wanted to qualify for the Boston marathon!
2) Create accountability - What do you need to do to ensure you remain accountable to this goal? For me, I needed to make a public declaration. I made a point of telling many friends and colleagues as well as my family that I was ‘running a marathon’. Needless to say, I had TONS of daily reminders about the goal I set.
3) Find a mentor - Who has the experience and is willing to help you reach your goal? I was very lucky to find a business colleague that had run a number of marathons and he took me under his wing. What a gift! I trained and ran the marathon with him and had invaluable guidance (e.g. ‘pace yourself - don’t start out too fast or you’ll kill yourself’)
4) Be prepared to ‘gut it out’ - How important is this goal to you? Are you prepared to rise above being uncomfortable, frustrated and discouraged to reach your goal? It is so easy to quit and give up when things get tough. I had some minor, but painful, injuries that I had to work through while training and on the day of the run. Like running my business, I was reminded of how important it was to look beyond the immediate pain to the bigger goal and  keep going. When I ran the marathon, I must admit I did not enjoy mile 21 to 26, but I loved mile 26 to 26.2 (the finish line)!
You can probably tell by the picture (on the right) that I was pretty pumped, or relieved, to have met my goal and finished the marathon. I think Peggy Fleming sums it up best, ‘The ultimate goal should be doing your best and enjoying it.’ I sincerely hope that as we chase down our dreams we can keep this quote in mind!
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