Running is indeed fantastic. Energizes, destresses, provides goals and motivation, contributes to better general health … is there a downside in all of this. Unfortunately yes! Like the old saying too much of a good thing …
Running can be pretty addictive and sometimes (many times actually) achieving the proper balance between personal life and our running hobby can be somehow difficult.
Back in the old days (yeah I consider myself quite old) when I was teaching Indoor Cycling instructors we use to present an old story about a Time Management Guru that I would like all my friend to read carefully:

“One day, an old professor of the School of Public Management in France, was invited to lecture on the topic of “Efficient Time Management” in front of a group of 15 executive managers representing the largest, most successful companies in America. The lecture was one in a series of 5 lectures conducted in one day, and the old professor was given 1 hr to lecture.Standing in front of this group of elite managers, who were willing to write down every word that would come out of the famous professor’s mouth, the professor slowly met eyes with each manager, one by one, and finally said, “we are going to conduct an experiment”.

From under the table that stood between the professor and the listeners, the professor pulled out a big glass jar and gently placed it in front of him. Next, he pulled out from under the table a bag of stones, each the size of a tennis ball, and placed the stones one by one in the jar. He did so until there was no room to add another stone in the jar. Lifting his gaze to the managers, the professor asked, “Is the jar full?” The managers replied, “Yes”.The professor paused for a moment, and replied, “Really?”Once again, he reached under the table and pulled out a bag full of pebbles. Carefully, the professor poured the pebbles in and slightly rattled the jar, allowing the pebbles to slip through the larger stones, until they settled at the bottom. Again, the professor lifted his gaze to his audience and asked, “Is the jar full?”At this point, the managers began to understand his intentions. One replied, “apparently not!”“Correct”, replied the old professor, now pulling out a bag of sand from under the table. Cautiously, the professor poured the sand into the jar. The sand filled up the spaces between the stones and the pebbles.Yet again, the professor asked, “Is the jar full?”Without hesitation, the entire group of students replied in unison, “NO!”“Correct”, replied the professor. And as was expected by the students, the professor reached for the pitcher of water that was on the table, and poured water in the jar until it was absolutely full. The professor now lifted his gaze once again and asked, “What great truth can we surmise from this experiment?”With his thoughts on the lecture topic, one manager quickly replied, “We learn that as full as our schedules may appear, if we only increase our effort, it is always possible to add more meetings and tasks.”“No”, replied the professor. The great truth that we can conclude from this experiment is:

If we don’t put all the larger stones in the jar first, we will never be able to fit all of them later.

The auditorium fell silent, as every manager processed the significance of the professor’s words in their entirety.The old professor continued, “What are the large stones in your life? Health? Family? Friends? Your goals? Doing what you love? Fighting for a Cause? Taking time for yourself?”What we must remember is that it is most important to include the larger stones in our lives, because if we don’t do so, we are likely to miss out on life altogether. If we give priority to the smaller things in life (pebbles & sand), our lives will be filled up with less important things, leaving little or no time for the things in our lives that are most important to us. Because of this, never forget to ask yourself,
What are the Large Stones in your Life? And once you identify them, be sure to put them first in your “Jar of Life”.

With a warm wave of his hand, the professor bid farewell to the managers, and slowly walked out of the room.”

I hope you have enjoyed this old story. Perhaps some of you already knew it … but remembering it is never too much. Also hope that it somehow make you put everything in good perspective.

Yeah running is fantastic ... but its not a large stone!

Feel Olympic!!

42,195Km - It's a kind of magic!

Got back from Berlin recently. Was there for the marathon. I organized the travel and the participation of a Portuguese group, so I did not had the chance to run. Nevertheless I had the chance to watch.
I virtually lost count of the marathons I have been. Quite a few I may say. Nevertheless these events never cease to amaze me. The energy was absolutely overwhelming.
As I stood by the Brandenburg gates, waiting for my buddies I could not help noticing the immense heterogeneity of people crossing the finish line. Tall people, small people, fat people, skinny people, fast runners, slow runners, people laughing, people crying (yes crying), white, black, yellow people, in a small phrase, the United Nations, or at least what they should be anyway.
Despite of the fact of all these noticeable differences we could all experience a moving sense of brotherhood in the air. What miraculous happening gave all these people the power of mutual friendship? Of course, sports are by nature prone to excel these feelings of friendship, but go to a soccer game and you see clouds of rivalry on top of everybody’s head, you see anger in basketball when the lead player fails, you see frustration and disappointment in lots of other sports. Not here, not in the Marathon. It makes us wonder why people do not always relate like this between themselves. What’s the magic in the 42,195Km?
I have a theory. It may seem absurd to most of you, but if you have ever been in a marathon (running) may be this makes a little more sense.
I believe people are in essence equal. I do not mean physiologically equal because that we know. I mean emotionally equal. We love the same basic stuff and we value the same basic principles. The problem in everyday human relationship is the layers placed on top of our basic selves. These layers placed on top of us by our education, our social environment and other hexogen influences constitute what we call personality, character … whatever! The secret of the Marathon, the magic of the 42,195Km is the power it has to strip you down completely. Every piece of this gruelling effort will virtually rip off one more layer of your so called “personality”. You will end up “bare naked” of all prejudice and misconceptions, angers, bad judgements, everything that conditions your normal day by day relationships.
In the end you are just one pure, physically drained human being. And the guy next to you is just the same. No obstacle for friendship, so friends you become. Try it!
It’s a kind of magic!

It was a cold July morning at the Swiss Alps.
It was a training camp.
I was tired. We were all tired. Tired was an understatement.
Nevertheless all our faces displayed a serene smile. Yes, serenity is a good word. Happiness also is.
Jochen comes in. Jochen is a funny guy. The kind of funny you do not find often. Stay a couple of minutes with this guy and you believe you are is friend for ages.
He sits, he yawns, he stares to all of us and shouts:
“ I Feel Olympic”
General laugh.
Few seconds after and I was reflecting on his words. Feel Olympic! What a fantastic expression. What an immense amount of power and meaning.
If there is a perfect purpose for everything, this is the one; feeling Olympic. In personal life, professional life, in sports, the quest for this fantastic feeling that walks hand in hand with victories and accomplishment, is indeed the objective to pursue.
The fantastic thing about feeling Olympic is its individuality. My small victory is someone greatest achievement. Somebody’s walk in the park is someone’s lifetime goal. This is the beauty of the concept. Winning a gold medal is exclusive of a very restrict club; to experience the felling is in anybody’s reach.
From that moment on I tried to steer my life towards the “Feel Olympic” goal. From that moment on I tried to spread this word.
My blog is a way to share the small victories and the great lessons (yes lessons, not failures) of my life.
Stay tuned.
Feel Olympic!