Some weeks ago, I took part in the Grant Thornton 5k Challenge in Dublin City centre. There is something to be said for the interest in running these days, and if we overlay it with the mindset of the working professional, we surely – at the very least – have material for a column.

Zest

We are at the starting line, packed quayside, being let loose in waves. Tightly bunched for the first kilometre, the path opens up as varying degrees of ability find their mojo.

I pick a runner a few metres ahead of me – I like her style, she’s ferret-like in spotting openings, and she’s got zest.

The last kilometre, and I’m crucified. My legeens don’t know what hit them. Up ahead, some stumpy young buck catches my eye – all muscle and grit. He’s got fuel in the tank, and I’ll be damned if I’ll come in far behind him.

The race finishes. We shake hands and exchange words of congratulations in the queue for bananas.

The parallels

As I ran, my mind wandered to a lecture to PPC1 students I was to give the following week. The following came to mind:

• It’s good to have a pacesetter – someone you admire, up close or from afar; a mentor even. Someone whose energy, ambition, or integrity you’d like to aim for and set as a personal benchmark.
• Sometimes that pacesetter will be you – you might know it, and you mightn’t. It might be a colleague or a niece. Either way, it’s a humbling and responsible position, and one you will fall in and out of.
• The context always changes – it rained at the beginning, and then conditions improved. Work, family, education: all these spheres can evolve and change. How you handle yourself within them is what you have greatest control over. Know thyself.
• The race is with yourself – while there were a few acquaintances there at the beginning, where were they at the end? Precisely: getting on with their own business. The race is with yourself – if your preparation and execution are done to your satisfaction and best standard, and you’re happy with that, then you’ve done a good run.