WEEK SUMMARY
Full confession here, I’m writing this post and a few more that follow after already having run the San Francisco Marathon. So I’m going to summarize what was most memorable for me during these weeks. A lot going on in these last two weeks, so here we go.
From the week between July 10 to July 16, I ran twice for 11.6 miles. It was a low running week, but I had a pretty big life event going on that limited my running for a bit. I received a new job offer, and I spent the week mulling it over. It’s a step up in my career, which is both simultaneously exciting and also scary. I went through the pros and cons with excruciating rigor, and I decided that I’d make my final decision as I thought it over one last time on a very early Friday morning run. I got up at around 4:45am and drove down to the National Mall and ran around the monuments in solitude. Ultimately, I sat down at the FDR Memorial, for a very long time, and decided that I would take the new position.
There is so much that I thought about during this run–what I wanted from my career, for my family, for my life beyond the typical job ambitions and responsibilities. I tried to break them down in my head, first while I was at the Lincoln, then at the MLK and finally at the FDR, taking inspiration from leaders who faced challenges far greater in impact and uncertainty than I will likely face in my life.
At the end, I decided that in order to make any decision in life that’s scary or new or uncertain, you have to separate your fears and figure out which fears to listen to and which ones to ignore. Fears of risk and uncertainty and opportunity costs, yes are worth evaluating, but also fears of failures and insecurity too, those are the ones to acknowledge and to separate when possible.
Anyway, the second of the two runs came after an intense gym workout on Saturday. So, two slow runs this week for 11.6 miles.
TWIR
This week was a big week for me, personally, as I decided to accept a new position in my career. As I mention above, that Friday morning run on the National Mall played a huge part in me making my final decision, and I am thankful for that. I also came to an important realization–that as Jess and I experience big milestones in Mini’s life, she too is experiencing big milestones in our lives, things that we will work towards, which we will celebrate, or have doubts, or fears, or sorrows, or any other human emotions. We are growing together as a family, all three of us experiencing new phases of life with each other together.
Also, some beautiful pictures:
fiftyonemarathons 