A thriver's guide to physical health and wellness
World-class tips, tactics, strategies and serious motivation
Photo from decatur Street in New Orleans 2012… yes, from a run
Masters Track & Field is not about marathon running, although everyone (not an exaggeration) asks about how many marathons I’ve run.
None.
Don’t even like driving 26 miles.
But enter a transformational approach, say a one lap (400 meters) run, and you’ve got my attention.
Isn’t that an example of go big or go home? Now you have one example. What’s your gonna be?
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Humans Are Born To Run
Significant human achievements, especially “firsts”, are rare. And they are rare because no human has ever done such a thing before. If we are lucky, we may see a few in our lifetimes.
What comes to mind from your own experience?
Tyson Gay, second fastest human ever, in the history of the world, is the ONLY human to run:
A few weeks ago, Tyson ran a 400 meters PR 44.89, to set the milestone above.
If you enjoy Track & Field or have a curiosity about the current hype between Tyson Gay, Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell – the three fastest humans of all time are running in the same lifetime, in the same meets – then you will probably enjoy this article from IAAF.org
This morning, at 4:50AM, while deciding what to write here at Lane 8, found a post I had started in August 2009, but had never finished, never posted.
In watching these two videos, it’s clear where my mind was. It was on motivation. Everyday our minds should be on motivation. Everyday.
Many of you will never be runners. That’s ok. Never want you to feel like you should be a runner. But I absolutely want you to feel you should do something. Walk, bike, dance, roll, swim, stairs, yoga, gym, ski…. it doesn’t matter, unless it matters to you.
USA Team Jacket
So the second week, I ran two mailboxes a day. Third week, three mailboxes a day.
Yes, many of you have heard this before. Which is one of the secrets to excellent results – repetition. Never get tired of doing the basic, common sense things.
Stories are critical to perpetuating past success and moving to even greater success. You already knew that right?
Eventually, the goals became impossible, but their pursuit was compelling.
What’s fascinating is how intense it was to rise to the level of representing the United States at the 2009 Master’s Track & Field World Championships, without anyone knowing.
Neighbors. Family. Work. Ten years. Ten years of dedicated, relentless effort.
Invisible to everyone around me. For a decade.
Now, neighbors know. And Family knows. Yet to this day, most where I work have no idea.
And so the question today is this, “What is your impossible goal and will you persue it without any fanfare or glory, but just for the sake that it’s a noble goal?”
Tell Them Age Is An Excuse
What can we learn from defeat, loss, failure?
Many things to be sure. But only if we try hard to learn from setback. And only if we listen. And only if we then try again.
Are you listening? And I don’t mean, “Sleigh bells ring, are you listening”.
I mean, are you the kind of person that will pick yourself up after you fall?
Are you the type of person that finds a million ways to stay motivated?
You see, getting motivated is one thing. What makes winners is staying motivated.
Oh wait, you want to tell me something, right?
Okay, go ahead.
“Jeff, you don’t understand, my life is hard. It’s very difficult.”
Here’s a Christmas gift for you, and it is given with the most hopeful and sincere intent – “No one has it easy. Period. End of story.”
This may scare some people off, and I would hate to see that happen, but I can’t allow myself to make excuses.
How can I teach our son (9), that it’s okay to make excuses?
“You can observe a lot by watching.” – Yogi Berra
What did you learn from watching Germany’s Guido Mueller, age 70, break that world record?
I learned age is a state of mind. And the longer you wait to believe this, the harder it must be to do something about it.
I also learned it’s better late than never – otherwise, my wife and I wouldn’t be parents.
What are you waiting for? For the people around you, will you be an example, or a warning? Carpe diem.
Hayward Field, Oregon 2009
World Championships, Finland 2009
What is Lane 8?
Lane 8 is the worst lane in Track & Field. Fast runners are put in the middle lanes and slower runners are assigned the outer lanes. The slowest competitor is always assigned Lane 8.
And in the 400 meters, which I compete in, you stay in your lane the entire race. The way the starting lines are staggered, makes it look like Lane 8 is way out in front, when in fact, it’s the exact same distance as the others.
So many consider lane 8 the worst lane because you cannot see any of the other competitors, until they pass you.
My goal is to be in Lane 8, the worst lane. And I also don’t care if I come in last. Seriously.
Our son (9) says, “Dad, you want the worst lane and you don’t care if you come in last?”
(Pause for effect, and read each of the next three sentences with decent pauses in between)
“That’s right, son, Lane 8. In the finals. At the World Championships.”
I continued the answer for our son, “You can come in last and still be the eighth best in the entire world.”
I then shared the moral of the story with our son:
“You can go through life and set the bar low, reach it, but then live with the regret of wondering what you could have done if you tried harder. Or, you can set the bar ridiculously high, fail, and yet live with peace because you know in your heart you did your very best.”
Ya with me?
Last night I could barely walk. Foot pain. Left heel. Why? Not sure.
Some of you know I represented the United States at the 2009 Masters Track & Field World Championships in Lahti, Finland. The first week of August seems like so long ago, when in fact, it wasn’t. Since then, I’ve completely tapered off on training. Completely.
So why the pain?
What is amazing to me, and something I tried to hide in the Lane 8 blog posts before traveling to Finland, is that I was actually able to compete at all.
“Then why put yourself through all this”?, is a common question. Roger Bannister, the first human to break the four-minute mile barrier, said it best:
“I sometimes think that running has given me a glimpse of the greatest freedom a man can ever know, because it results in the simultaneous liberation of both the mind and body….. The runner does not know how or why he runs. He only knows that he must run….. We run, not because it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves”. — Roger Bannister 1956
Lane 8 Needs Motivation. Daily. Period.
Ya with me? DAILY.
Was reminded of that yesterday after giving a speech, a man asked me privately, “How do you motivate people”?
Without any hesitation, because it’s a common question, “If you want to motivate others, you need to be motivated yourself”.
It’s the first and only rule of motivation. Enthusiasm is the most contagious thing in the world. The second most contagious thing in the world is the opposite.
The lack of enthusiasm. Admit it or not, everyone takes their cue from you.
When you look in the mirror, are you a mountain or a molehill?
Lane 8 Digresses? Maybe. Maybe not.
You know this if you’ve been following Lane 8 for a few months, the thesis at Lane 8 is taking care of our priceless physical gift – our body.
You have also come to discover the sub-thesis here is that goals should be impossible.
So why all the Suomi (Finland) Ski Jumping stuff? Call it a mental break from the physical focus.
In fact, the day all the Lahti Ski Jumping videos were shot was a rest day at the Masters Track & Field World Championships.
Rest is critical to physical (and mental and spiritual) health. So just enjoy this diversion and expect the break to be over soon. Carpe diem, jeff noel 
Mind, body, spirit, money, and hq...
You see four of them below. The fifth is the "box" the holds the other four...
America's unheralded work life balance expert. jeff noel, is a Servant, Husband, Dad, Boomer, speaker, author, runner. He believes work is only work if you'd rather be doing something else. Allergic to most pollens and mediocrity, he can't wait for the alarm clock to go off every morning.