Animal metaphors at work

I had planned out a 10-mile run yesterday that involved 3 of the 5 big, miserable hills in town. I made it through 6 before my body got angry at me and I had to alternate between walking and jogging home.

I could have pushed myself to finish the full run - I know how to pull into those mental reserves and gut it out. What got in the way yesterday was a rock kept getting into my shoe, and I kept having to stop, take off my shoe to dump the skree, and then start up again.

It is pretty easy to hit a goal when there's a straight line between where you are and where you want to go, but it gets exponentially harder each time something goes off plan - in my case, rocks in my shoe, which weren't part of my, "how much this will hurt" plan that is part and parcel of any 10 mile run.

The world will tell you to finish, no matter what. But my body was telling me something different, which was that I should buy something that stops the rocks, and then try this one again. I listened to that rather than the imagined peer pressure telling me to finish.

Sometimes, I can run like a gazelle. Other times, I'm a water buffalo. Yesterday, I started as a gazelle and ended like a manatee.

Originally posted on LinkedIn around March 27, 2021