How I Learned to Handle the Hard Miles in Running and Building My Business

Running a marathon and running a business are extremely similar in many ways and here’s how (no running for you required):

In the last three weeks I have run two marathons (my 13th & 14th, respectively) in Berlin and London. For one I chased a time goal, the other I chased happiness, community and fun.

The lessons learned during those races (and training cycles) directly correlate to business. Let me break it down.

1. “The marathon owes you nothing.”

This is a common saying in the endurance world because no matter how prepared you are or the goal you set, the marathon will ALWAYS deliver a challenge. It does not OWE you a good race simply for showing up.

The same is true in business. The marketplace owes you nothing.

You can be amazing at what you do, but if you do not consistently show up to demonstrate your expertise and share your solution, you will not have clients.

2. Strategy is worthless without execution.

In marathons, you can have a custom training plan created for your specific goals/schedule/fitness, etc., but if you do not show up to do the workouts you will not see success on race day.

Just as the best business or marketing strategy will prove lackluster (or no) results if you do not consistently execute on the strategy. (Read: do the work.)

3. It WILL get hard.

I have run marathons on hills, in cold weather, in extreme heat, in the rain, faster, slower, with walk breaks, without walk breaks, and guess what?

There are ALWAYS hard miles. I call them the “sticky miles.”

(Yes, I put a PR spin on them. Would you expect less? 😉)

These are the miles where you’re so uncomfortable that no matter the actual distance left it seems like 10,000 miles and you’ll never get it done.

What’s on the other side of those sticky miles though is a stride, a second wind, a push to the finish, and eventually…the most unbelievable sense of pride when you get it done 🏅

But the only way through that discomfort is by putting one foot in front of the other, whatever the pace, and continuing forward.

The sticky miles in business can last a week, a month, a quarter or even a year. But if you keep showing up to put one foot/campaign/client/project in front of the other, then you WILL get to the other side.

Your business will find its stride again because you believed in it (and yourself!) and the benefit you provide to the marketplace.