Run, Forest, Run

I completed a 10km run at the weekend. It was the Clandon Park Run, in support of the Teenage Cancer Trust. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and I hated every single kilometre I covered. Hate’s probably a bit of an exaggeration but it’s fair to say that running is not in my blood. I find it really difficult and not particularly enjoyable, but it’s one of those challenges that I give myself to do. Completing a run, proves to me that I have a certain level of fitness, and is a way of letting me push myself, set physical goals and make progress towards bigger goals like completing the Hever Castle Triathlon in September (what have I let myself in for?).

Run, Forest, Run

Hour Of Power

I was hoping for a time of 60 minutes based on the fact that I’m quite a slow runner and hadn’t run more than 5km all year. Not in total, just at one sitting, I’m not that bad! Also I have a wandering mind, so often find myself chatting to horses or looking at clouds shaped liked celebrities (Davina and Brian Blessed were both up there if you looked hard enough) which tends to slow me down if not stop me dead in my tracks. Anyway after about 7km it became clear to me that even that modest goal of one hour was going to slip away from me if I didn’t do something about it.

I decided that I needed to overtake a few people. That way I’d have to run faster to get past them, plus I’d get a better result by finishing before those people I passed. Simples. A few years ago I’d done the same run and tried to go past one person at a time. One, then another, then another, but to be honest that wasn’t very effective for me. If the person in front was near and going quite slowly then it was fine, but if they were miles ahead and sprinting along I couldn’t find the motivational leverage to do it.

Think Of A Number

So this year I did something different. I decided on the number of people I was going to pass before I took a breath and tried to surge. I chose 25 as a random number of runners ahead of me that I needed to pass before I could go at an easier pace again (and let me be honest here – think about walking a few steps – to talk to horses maybe).

This really worked. I put my head down, lengthened my stride and started to pass my fellow sweaty faced, lycra clad, heavy breathers. Like before it was still only one at a time, but this year I had a bigger number in sight – each one I passed was part of a bigger number, and this motivated me, kept me running until, at last I’d reached the magic number Twenty Five! I could ease off the gas and relax.

But do you know what – I didn’t ease off, I didn’t stop and I didn’t check out the very interesting Silvio Berlusconi shaped cumulus drifting over towards some tufty young cirrus. Instead I put my head down and concentrated on making sure those 25 well earned placings I’d just made stayed mine.

I finished the race on 60 minutes and 5 seconds. And I’d surprised myself by finding a strategy that overcompensated for my lack of ability, technique and general compatibility with running.

Sausages

Reflecting after the race, somewhere between stuffing my face with the most welcome Mars Bar this side of the Milky Way and soaking in in a deep sud filled hot tub, I realised that I shouldn’t have been so suprised about the effectiveness of my strategy. After all I teach it to clients, both business and personal, all the time. It’s the Salami Method
and it’s a great way to get through tasks when it feels like you’ve got too much to do. Or when you’ve got the world on your shoulders and you don’t know where to even begin.

Looking at the problem you’ve got as a whole can often be overwhelming. Like trying to eat a whole salami sausage in one go. It’s not going to happen is it? With a sausage you would simply slice the whole into lots of small bite sized pieces, that on their own are manageable and less daunting. And so with your tasks, or challenge, you simply break it down into parts that you find easier to deal with.

My lesson from the run was that it is vital to be aware of the whole project you want to achieve so that when you get to the end of the final mini-task you know you’ve achieved the whole job. Taking it one by one, when you don’t know how many one’s there are won’t work.