Ran quickly over my lunch break. Had a certain path in mind. I have a lot of paths – possibly hundreds – worked out in my head of varied distances across the county where I live, based on all the thousands of miles I have run here.
Sometimes, you have to switch up your path for varied reasons – for example, today, an ornate curious looking gate that is normally closed, was open. So of course I checked it out; I was not disappointed. But then, a huge, scary looking dog was off leash – so, rather than take my chances, I turned and back tracked.
All said, it was about 5k. I recently wrote about testing my new awesome watch against my phone to see how far off they were after a weird race result. Decided to test it one more time – cuz you know, data is data.
Still a pretty close match.
Anywho – no matter what sort of run you are on today, literal or metaphorical – short or long – its good to have a plan in mind – and then – it imperative to be able to adapt and overcome when necessary.
A 60,000-word manuscript somehow found its way into a less-than-100-page, whittled-down field guide.
It isn’t perfect.
I think—constantly—about what I could have, should have, or still might do to make it better. But this was never about perfection. In fact, maybe the opposite. ref Phil 3:12
Its also not about profit. The proceeds are being donated. Hell, I might never break even.
But what I find myself reflecting on instead is purpose. Somewhat because I am in a chapter of my life where I am constantly trying to improve, and that includes emotionally and spiritually – not just professional and physical.
I wrote this because I keep seeing the same patterns of struggle all around me —and I care.
You can comment on posts. You can write blogs. You can do podcasts. I do all of that. But I wanted to try to lay it all out in one place. What started as a napkin-planning moment (refence Origin story) turned into a year of talks, which eventually evolved into the book. In some ways, I started writing it years ago—pulling from reflections I had jotted down long before. The real sit-down-and-write phase began almost exactly one year before I hit “Publish.”
There were two or three stretches of non-stop writing—what I call heats. They’re a lot like running an ultra: long periods where you’re glued in place, laptop open, doing almost nothing else for days except putting one foot in front of the other. One word at a time. I no doubt looked as haggard and intense on the couch – coffee in hand, typing away – as I often do on a trail…sweaty and maybe even bloody…still hustling.
So what will the author copies I plan to give away at future events do?
They’ll spark conversations. They’ll build relationships. They’ll help fuel Community Gravity—while also generating donations for causes I care deeply about.
I’m grateful for the notes I’ve received so far. One, in particular, sticks with me: someone told me they were afraid to do a big thing for the first time. They did it anyway—wearing a daring bright red shirt—after reading CLIMB. And they crushed it.
That’s enough.
All that said, I have a 50K in less than 80 days. It’s finally above 40 degrees outside, and I have a few minutes before my next meeting—so I’m heading out for a quick run around the neighborhood. *apparently with my dog who saw me lacing my shoes…
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