Run Your Own Race

"The way you step up your game is not to worry about the other guy in any situation, because you can't control the other guy. You only have control over yourself. So it's like running a race. The energy that it takes to look back and see where the other guys are takes energy away from you. And if they're too close, it scares you. So, that's what I would say to my team all the time: Don't waste your time in the race looking back to see where the other guy is or what the other guy is doing. It's not about the other guy. It's about what can you do. You just need to run that race as hard as you can. You need to give it everything you've got, all the time, for yourself." — Oprah Winfrey

"Running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put into it."  - Oprah Winfrey.

Oprah Winfrey finished her first marathon at Marine Corps Marathon in 1994 with a time of 4:29:15. Probably we should just run our own race and not try to beat Oprah although it is a tempting thought.

The other celebrities who has completed a marathon are :-

George W. Bush, 1993 Houston Marathon (3:44:52)

Ed Norton, 2009 New York City Marathon (3:48:01)

Ryan Reynolds, 2008 New York City Marathon (3:50:22)

Sarah Palin, 2005 Humpy's Marathon (3:59:36)

Alanis Morissette, 2009 New York City Marathon (4:28:45)

Al Gore, 1997 Marine Corps Marathon (4:54:25)

John Cryer from "Two and A Half Men", one of the comedies that I enjoyed a lot,  competes in triathlons. Quite a surprise for me when I read this in Runner's World. And he has done 12 - 15 triathlons. Wow !!

One of the great personal development and leadership guru that I admired is Robin Sharma. This is after reading his book "The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari" which is a fable about a lawyer forced to confront the spiritual crisis of his out-of-balance life. On a life-changing odyssey to an ancient culture, he discovers powerful, wise, and practical lessons. I listen to a lot of his podcasts during my morning runs/walks when I first get back into running. Those podcasts were available online has helped me a lot through difficult moments in my life and career. His webpage is at www.robinsharma.com. You can listen to this podcast Robin Sharma's Podcast. Podcast #33 on "Run Your Own Race."   In this podcast he share one of his most important lessons in life.

"You need not change your world in a day. Start off small. The thousand mile journey begins by taking the first step. We grow great by degrees. Small daily steps lead to stunning results over time"- Robin Sharma

In running, there is always somebody that is going run faster than you and somebody that is running slower than you. There is a guy who can run 2 marathons and 1 ultramarathon all in a month! He ran one in Peninsular Malaysia, 1 ultra in Sabah and 1 marathon overseas. Of course, it makes us envy his endurance, time and money spent on those events. But he is running his own race and most likely he enjoys every minute of it. Everybody has a different mission in life. We may just be happy running a marathon once in our life or once a year or twice a year. Let's run our own race and not compare to others. Remembering when I was running the trial run for Green Run MPSP. I was also running with runners that was way faster than I am. But I just kept my own pace although I was running alone the whole time and finished the race, strong. 

A short update on my latest run

Ran another 6km on Wednesday morning after my long run on Sunday. The pain on the ankle came back after I started to pick up my pace at 2km and I pushed myself to finish the 6km. But it was a mistake. Immediately started limping after that and for the whole day. I am guessing the ankle pain could be due to the new shoes, Brooks Pure Connect, which has too much cushioning for me. I have been more accustomed to more minimalist shoes lately. The other possibility is the long runs are just too long. Decided to switch back to my Merrell Trail Glove for future long runs as I have better experience with it on my long runs since I have done 30km in it without the ankle injury. The only problem is hopefully my ankle can recover on time for my overseas trip. I wouldn't like to be limping around for eight days during travelling. And it is really painful, I could hardly walked on Wednesday. Pray that the ankle injury will not flare up again after a long run. Injury and pain becomes a part of the Marathon journey...

Managed to finish this post before going for a holiday and scheduled it to be posted on Monday, a motivational posting through life journey.....