_SportyBrains_

So, this is another post about running (I know, shocking, right!?), however, I think there are some takeaways for anybody if you read long enough, so bear with me as I stay true-to-form and long-windedly unpack everything today. Today’s thoughts are a flip-side to a previous post where I discussed some mental errors I made racing a few weeks back; one of those errors was being Hella distracted by things around me and notably the timepiece and what it said on my wrist. Full disclosure: this post was pre-planned after making some adjustments and racing again at yesterday’s Bayou City Classic 10k in Houston.   And by adjustments, let’s say I basically did the runner’s equivalent of cutting my right hand off (or at least my right thumb, that thing’s important!) and running without a watch. Yep. Completely naked from the elbow down! No GPS, no Timex, no feedback whatsoever other than mile markers on the course and feel-you know, taking a more mindful approach. And it was every...

Flying home from a recent consulting trip in Omaha I picked up a copy of ‘Outside’ magazine. While the concept has always had my attention, I only crack open this mag occasionally. This time around, I had hours to spare and the March edition being the “Work Issue”. Ok… so what? And how boring. Not for me, at least at this point in my life. Given that I had just started my own practice back up just weeks ago from that moment I was intrigued as I am all about finding more ways to best serve others while doing things authentically and in-line with my athletic, outdoorsy personality. The theme of this issue was to “Work Smart”. What was cool about it was that it contained 4 sections giving us some methods of actually working smart. So helpful! Hoping to find some stories among the “new career rules’ (whatever that actually means) I liked the section on humanitarian-entrepreneur Jon Rose entitled “Make Yourself Useful”. I mean, I can hope I do that at least sometimes! In a section tit...

I have a feeling this post may rub some people the wrong way or at least challenge current attitudes. While the latter is the intention of this post, I apologize in advance for the former-but I want to make you think. And of course, just like in any of my blogs, I am writing to myself as much as I am to to the audience. So this is another one for the runners today, but I feel like this could be applicable to other sports and arenas as well. Okay, disclaimers aside, let's get dirty. Yesterday morning I participated in a tradition in my local running community that I always do: informally pace (Sorry, Willie and Co.!) The Woodlands Half Marathon and get a more festive long run in. I also happened to have a really good run this morning after a couple weeks of struggling a bit. You see, after several weeks of amazing training, I started to hit an energy wall. I only had to zoom out just  slightly to see what the issue was: a more-than-usually intense travel schedule, a month of (posi...