The brotherhood is strong
WEEKEND EDITION | Post race notes and a writing assignment for you | Vol. 38
Hi Fam! Welcome to volume 38 of Move Fast, Think Slow. MF/TS delivers pro tips on life, team performance, or brand marketing every week. If you have not yet subscribed, join 1000+ smart, curious humans by signing up here!
The first rule about running a marathon is not shutting the f__k up about running a marathon. 😆😆
All kidding aside. You end up talking about it a lot because of the hours and miles it takes to get there. As mentioned last week, it just took 16 weeks / 470 miles to prepare so excuse me if I share a bit about that journey.
Also as mentioned last week doing 26.2 in Los Angeles had a lot of special hues and tones for me. It wasn’t just some other marathon. It was biblical for a multitude of reasons.
So bear with me dear readers as we dive into post-race notes, an appreciation for brotherhood, and your weekend meditation assignment known as writing!!!
POST-RACE NOTES 🏃♂️📝
We did it.
Ran and completed the 2024 Los Angeles Marathon.
Accomplished the goal of breaking 4 hours. Landed a 3:43:18 time.
YES LAWD!
I was prepared for the run thanks to Coach Jason Fitzgerald’s running plan.
For the first 30K I was rocking 8:03 per mile pace. Papi was cruising. If I sustained that pace then I’d broken the 3:40 barrier. But just like NY Marathon in November, I hit a wall at mile 20. One day I’ll figure out how to not blow a total gasket on the last 7 miles.
The last few miles were a real test of wits and will. It’s when voices start coming into your head saying things like “just cheat your way to the finish line” or “you don’t have to do this anymore.” LA was especially challenging seeing people loop back around running against / by you towards the finish line. “I can just hop this barrier and run towards the finish line.” 🤣🤣🤣
Running in Los Angeles was a surreal homecoming. Dodger Stadium, Downtown, Echo Park, Silverlake, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Century City/West LA.
I was whooping and hollering like a huntsman riding on the plains looking for my dinner. Might have scarred the locals. It didn’t matter.
It was magical.
It was fun.
It hurt a little bit.
And it was a triumph.
THE BROTHERHOOD IS STRONG 💪 🤝 🤗
A wonderful yet unexpected theme of the LA Marathon journey was brotherhood.
Too often I’ve looked at metrics and materialistic elements as signs of winning. As sources of happiness. And that thinking tends to dilute happiness and dilutes vision of what truly matters in this journey. And what truly matters are the little things in between.
As you age, it’s not easy to maintain meaningful relationships. Like anything good in life, meaningful manifestations require a concerted effort. And sometimes we can get lucky and those efforts pay off in positive ways.
There’s my great friend RG who was the original inspiration for running the LA marathon. We went on this journey together and it’s something we’ll share for the rest of our lives. BTW, RG ran a 3:45 and was featured in the LA Times.
There were our former professional colleagues with whom we shared great life and creative memories. We convinced one of them to run the LA marathon with us and got to enjoy an incredible meal at his home with 2 other fellow marathon runners. BTW, he got a 4:11 and it was his very first marathon! I see you Adam! :)
Most of my life I never thought about brotherhood. I take it for granted. Now, I feel lucky to have a handful of pals that I can genuinely call brother(s). Studies increasingly show if you want to have a healthy, good life, you need friendship and deep bonds. Praise be for the folks I share some bonds with.
Not to get too academic but good friendships provide emotional support, reduce stress, improve resilience, and directly impacts your physical health. That’s why the concerted efforts for meaningful relationships is an effort worth tending to.
In this journey to Los Angeles to run 26.2 it became clear.
The brotherhood is strong.
YES LAWD.
LIFE PRO-TIP OF THE WEEK: GO WRITE! ✍️📝
My challenging assignment for you: find :30 - :45 minutes to write.
By hand.
In a notebook.
It’s less of an assignment but more of a life enrichment pro tip.
If you have kids, go to bed early so you can wake up before them to write for :30 min with that cup of coffee. Regardless of kids or not, finding the part of the :30 - :40 minutes is the challenge. Yes, I know.
But try to do it and write by hand. That’s crucial.
Writing by hand is a surefire way to discover your superpowers.
And I don’t know about you, but I like superpowers.
It’s a Marvel universe baby! We all have superpowers. Get moving.
That’s why I say GO. WRITE.
It is about movement.
But why do you write?
You write to reflect.
You write to plan.
WRITE TO REFLECT 🤔
Take stock of the gifts you have as an individual and the gifts of your surroundings. Find the aspects of your journey to be grateful for. I know it might be hard out in these streets, but odds are if you have the bare necessities to live and have relationships with other human beings, you most likely have a lot to be grateful for. But how many times a week do you stop and really think about it?
Then reflect on victories. Track your wins for the week - building your confidence bank account. An idea Dr. Nate Zinsser emphasizes in his book A CONFIDENT MIND.
The First Victory begins with accepting and utilizing the connection that decades of mind/body research has established: your conscious thoughts have a huge influence on your performance by the way they shape your mood and in turn affect your physical state.
Dr. Nate Zinsser doesn’t want you to just think of the past week but think of your entire life. The promotions, the medals, the life milestones where you put in the effort and got positive outcomes. Get them onto the page. Look at them. It’s called building your confidence bank account and I FACKING LOVE IT. The idea is the more you see these things, the more wind you will have at your back.
When was the last time you sat down and actually acknowledged your WINS? I bet not often enough.
WRITE TO PLAN + PREPARE
Scripting out immediate and intermediate tasks, goals, and duties may seem redundant but I’ve found if I am prepared for what’s coming at me before I get to that moment, I tend to handle it that much better.
Scripting what’s ahead and next while envisioning how you want it to go down is powerful. Sets the vibe for yourself. And when you set a good vibe, good things tend to flow.
SUMMING UP YOUR ASSIGNMENT
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. Please do yourself a favor and steal :30 - :45 min. A cup of coffee. And a journal.
Your writing prompts are:
I’m grateful for _____
My victories this week were ______
My big priorities are next week are ______ and I need to do ____ to be prepared for that
My vision of positive performance this week is _____
And this only works if you throw that freaking phone into a drawer for a hot second. Yes, you can leave it alone for :30 minutes.
Get the notebook out.
Do it by hand.
Enrich your journey.
Be in that moment.
Throw on the tunes.
Warm up the coffee.
And go find your superpowers.
IMAGES OF THE WEEK
Go forth.
Stay safe.
Ride the wave.
-Mitch
P.S. I know some of you are new here. If you liked this chili, please share it with a friend or two. We’re always welcoming new readers to Move Fast, Think Slow.
I also don’t always talk about running and writing assignments. LOL.
I geek out about marketing and brands.
Also, obsess over the creation of high value teams and finding high value ideas and chasing the adjacent possible.
And pro tips for your health - lol.
In future dispatches I’m going to geek out about the art of selling, innovation/team management wisdom from Jeff Bezos, and why my pro tips for college grads are also pro tips for always-on students of life.
Thanks for swinging on by.
See you next week! 👋👋👋