Running was never my thing. I grew up playing little league baseball as every American boy is destined to do. I actually regret that I didn’t play longer. I long for the days to go and play catch with my dad and my brother. But I had a bad coach when I was 12 or 13 which ruined the game for me.

So, I picked up tennis. And yes, the rest is history. I played and played and played so more. I made my neighbor and my dad play with me just so I could have someone to play with. Because of the two racquets hanging in our garage, I found a life-long love. I played on the high school tennis team. (Where I would meet me best friend.) I coached the team for one year. Then I went and worked for the sport for over five years.

But a back injury took me off the competitive streak I was on. And I really do miss it. In fact, the other day as I lay in bed, I imagined walking to the service line and the fuzz of the barely used tennis ball in my hand. Standing there, bouncing the ball and picturing the impeding serve in my mind. It is a moment of pure control. Your emotions. Your physical presence is all under your control. It is actually the only moment in the game when that is true. It’s like the pitcher in baseball. It is on you.

There are definitely similarities to that moment and the experience that comes from lacing up my running shoes each time. So, back to why I picked up running shoes in the first place. After my back injury, I was told by my doctor that my super-competitive days were over. I was crushed, but as an athlete, I knew I needed some kind of a physical outlet. So I, perhaps crazily, picked up running. Since then, I have logged over 1,100 miles which may not seem like a lot, but to me, it is beyond incomprehensible. I was never a runner. The other day as I ran my longest run of my life (18 miles), I thought back to high school when running a mile was a challenge. Not anymore.

When I was accepted to run the 2011 NYC Half-Marathon, I was elated. I knew the challenge had been accepted. And I ran. And ran. And ran.

I trained hard and all winter long. The race was on March 20, 2011 and all week, the weather had been unseasonably warm. So, that’s what I thought I would be getting. But as luck would have it, the night before, the mercury plummeted and the wind picked up. I don’t actually remember the temperature at race time, but the wind-chill could not have been warmer than 15-20 degrees Fahrenheit.

The race began in Central Park and by the time we broke into the city, I had already completed eight of the 13.1 miles. My energy exploded as I ran towards Times Square. I actually don’t remember much of the race after Times Square to be honest. Crossing the finish line was great, but I both of my knees were actually in quite a bit of pain by then, so just the feat of crossing the line was incredible. (Plus, my time shattered my goal by nearly ten minutes!)

I will never forget the moment, the experience of running through Times Square, the streets blocked off and fans on both sides of the road.

The journey last year was incredible and it was something I never ever thought I would do. But it was only a half-marathon. It, in reality, was only half of the journey I knew I wanted to go on.

Richard’s Thoughts…
Life happens. I have been telling myself that for the past 15 days and at times, it has not been easy. But I try to remind myself: life happens.

Sometimes you land the plumb job and sometimes you don’t get picked to be the star. Sometimes you win the big game or the big contract and sometimes the contract is swiped at the last minute. We have all been there. You win some and you lose some. But at the end of the job, at the end of the contract, at the end of the game, you as a person have to believe that you did all you could to find success, and then peace.

If someone else makes a mistake, remember that you make them too. We are all human and life happens.

The journey to running a marathon has not been an easy one to say the least. In fact, after my half-marathon in 2011 I was worried that my running days were over. I took about a month off from running after that race and upon my return, about two miles in, my knee hurt so bad, I had to stop my run and limp home. It was a terribly defeating moment.

But months prior, I almost gave up on the goal of even running the half marathon.

The shoes that really got me started.

I remember exactly where I was. I was in Springfield, Missouri, one a work trip. It was a Saturday and I needed to get in a six-mile run. I went down to the hotel gym and hopped on the treadmill. I put SportsCenter on the television and started running. I felt great. My legs felt great. I knew that I was going to be able to pull off the half-marathon feat.

But sometime between five and six miles my right knee started screaming at me. Not a ‘I’m tired’ scream. No. It was a ‘get the hell off me or you’re going to regret it,’ scream. So I did. And somehow I limped up to my room. And I was scared.

I worked all day on my feet and then, perhaps stupidly, played tennis for about two hours that evening, but I was not moving well at all. My knee hurt. All the while, my mind ran wild with what could be wrong. ACL. MCL. Cartilage. Old age.

Immediately upon returning home, I got an appointment with a sports physician. The next four weeks were quite emotional as I went back a few times a week while we tried to work out my leg. I was diagnosed with the fear of all runners: IT Band Syndrome.

It took weeks of physical therapy, stretching and treatments, but eventually my IT Band began to relax. And I was able to get back on the road. Running towards 13.1.

Richard’s Thoughts…
Not a day goes by where I don’t think about happiness. What will really make me happy in life? What food will make me happy? Will taking this nap really make me happy? What people, what profession, what car, what vacation will make me happiest … ? The list can go on and on.

But I have also come to the conclusion that there are two truths about happiness. First is a lesson from my favorite band, Switchfoot. Years ago they recorded a song, “Happy is a Yuppie Word.” When I heard them in concert, their lead singer explained that the right word to search for, is “blessed.” Happy is just a subjective term we need a better word to define our lives.

I believe the second truth is that we all have it within ourselves to make the determination that we are blessed. We, as humans, get to determine nearly everything about our lives.
So, it is time to re-take that control and choose to be happy and healthy. Determine today to look at the glass as half-full!

What possesses someone to do something hard? I find that to be an interesting question. Is it the desire to be the best? Or perhaps it is the desire to simply take on a challenge and do something amazing that either they or no one though was possible.

Whatever it is that drives to take on tough challenges, we do it. And we do it a lot. We decide to write a book. And write another. Oh, and write another. Sometimes we even decide to run for office … as a teenager!

We, Americans, have something in our blood to make us want to reach for the stars. We want to win the Super Bowl and go to Disney World. We want to go to the moon. We want to become President of the United States. We are told to dream big and aim for the moon.

It is in our DNA to work hard and try to make something of ourselves. People have the same attitude as startups possess. We bootstrap. We do what it takes to build a life; to go after our dreams. It certainly does not deter us that only 41 different men have become Super Bowl MVP. And only 12 men have stepped foot on the moon. Nor does it deter us that only 43 people, all men, have taken the Presidential Oath.

To my women readers, I chose those three successes to make a point: you have to be extra determined to crack the glass of this ceiling. As a male, I don’t know how real any of it is anymore, and that is really not the point today.

The point is to remind you that for anything you really want in life, it needs to remain at the center of everything you do and everything you dream. You have to have that determination to put your heart and soul into something even if no one in your life is supportive of your endeavor. That is determination.

It is lacing up your shoes to go running on a track with three inches of snow on in the blistering cold. It’s like the US Post Office’s motto:

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.

Determination is all about going, going hard and not stopping.

In 25 days, I will lace up my shoes for the longest run and greatest physical challenge of my life. I will cross that finish line. I am determined to be the first person in my family to accomplish this feet. But mostly, I am doing it for me. To prove that I can. To prove that having dedication towards a goal that even a year ago seemed impossible. And then to show the world that someone who was never a runner, hated running, and has an injured foot, can accomplish 26.2 unholy miles.

It is time to take your idea, determine you want it and let no one stop you!

In Proust Was a Neuroscientist, by rising star author Jonah Lehrer, we see first-hand the connection between the arts and the sciences.

The first chapter of the book takes a loot at Walk Whitman and the quote to begin the chapter sets the stage, “The poet writes the history of his own body,” said Henry David Thoreau. And isn’t that the truth with all artists? With every book I write, every blog post, every video, every speech, every photo and every painting, I am telling a tiny portion of my own story. Whitman obviously agreed saying, “The body and the mind are inseparable. To whip a man’s body was to whip a man’s soul.” And it is this idea that begins to show how we as human beings truly feel everything in our lives, whether we know it or not. Everything we do, everything we experience is interconnected, thus, the substance of feeling is born.

Something I take great pride and passion in is learning. It is paramount to my life not only as a write and speaker, but as a person. I value growth. And George Eliot in the chapter, “The Biology of Freedom,” showcases how man’s mind is not set in stone. In fact, she argued that the mind was “not cut in marble.” Lehrer writes with incredible prose:

“Every limit is a beginning as well as an ending,” Eliot confesses in Middlemarch. Our situation provides the raw material our of which we make our way, and while it is important “never to beat and bruise one’s wings against the inevitable,” it is always possible “to throw the whole force of one’s soul towards the achievement of some possible better.” You can always change your life.

We can always change our life. It is about believing that you have the power to do so; to make the changed needed.

If science teaches us anything it is that we don’t know much. But if life teaches us anything is is that we are always learning, always challenging and that eventually, science can (and often does), provide the how and the why something is happening.

Overall, this book deserves a read. The last few chapters seemed to lack the punch of the first half of the book, but nevertheless, the fact still remains, art and science are linked. Very linked. You just have to want to listen.

This chart shows when I get my emails and when I send my emails. First, let’s take a look at when I get them. I usually try to go to bed with as close to zero e-mails that need action. Some days are better than others, but by the time I wake up at 7 a.m., my inbox is already full again. And it continues to get worse throughout the day. I like to take care of e-mails by 10 a.m., try to keep up throughout the day and then close it out by midnight.

This is the first month I’ve been able to get these amazing stats and I can promise you, my habits are going to change. I have already unsubscribed to one e-mail list which will hardly create a dent, but it is needed. 1747 emails over 30 days? Really? That amounts to an average of 58 e-mails a day. Now, I know that is nothing compared to some major players, but that is still quite a bit.

I have written a lot about e-mail management in the past and it is still something I am super passionate about.I am always trying to come up with a better system, a new time to check and respond. I’m not sure there is a perfect one out there, but I am willing to try and find it.

How do you control (or try to control) your inbox?

They say that every journey begins with a single step. And it is true. Here I am 30 days away from lacing up my shoes for the “last” time in a journey that in all honesty, began in 2007. Yes, it has taken me five years to get to this point, but it’s about the journey.

To get to the end, I have to start at the beginning. In 2006, I played tennis. A lot. I played a few tournaments and back then I worked for the US Tennis Association, so I spent a lot of time on the courts helping to build and grow the game. Then in August, I played in what was going to be my last tournament of the season. Turns out, it was the last tournament I would play until 2010. But that weekend in Iowa City, I played three or four tough matches. That night as I walked into a restaurant chosen by my friend Tylor, I limped in. My back had never been tighter.

At that point, it wasn’t painful, so much as it was uncomfortable. That, and I couldn’t move. And it didn’t get better. I would be at home and I would bend over to pick up a pencil or a simple piece of paper and I would need to push off something to get myself back up. I was scared. So I went to the doctor and got an MRI done. Diagnosis: You won’t be able to play at the same level. (Years later, my chiropractor actually explained the problem with my back and I try to take are of it better now because of his teachings.)

So, I had to give up competitive play. In a phrase, it sucked. So, I picked up running. I needed to stay active and it was something I could do anytime and anywhere.

My first pair of running shoes.

With tennis off the table, I started running in the summer of 2007. It was a brutally hot summer in Cedar Falls, Iowa, but I ran. The neighborhoods were peaceful and I would run in the middle of the day, early in the morning and late at night. Back then, I didn’t think I would end up here.

But as they say, it is about the journey …

Richard’s Thoughts…
I’m not a parent and I’ve only been the child. But even with that information in mind, I have no idea what it is like to not only be a child in this decade, nor what it is like to raise one.

But I also know that my grandparents would have probably said the same thing about raising my parents and my parents would – and probably do – say the same thing about raising myself and my two siblings. But just like raising a kid right now is tough, so is being one.

And that’s where the lesson is this week. We can all learn a lot from each other. In fact, we can learn an incredible amount from each other, young and old. So, what do you want to know? Find someone, ask, and learn.