Wednesday, June 25, 2014

In Tough Negotiations, You Need An Ally.

Everyone knows, when you're in a tough spot, you're more likely to succeed if you have someone on your side. And that holds true for business dealings, buying a home, or even purchasing a car.

This summer, I am training for the Ventura Marathon on September 7th. That means early morning speed work, slower pace miles, and long runs on Saturdays. That means that several times each week, I'm going to face a tough negotiator.

"Let's sleep in today. We can run the miles tomorrow."
"Ugh, it's Friday. I deserve to go out tonight with friends. What's one long run, anyway?"
"It's only a five mile run. It doesn't matter if you skip it."

Yep, these negotiations will be tough. Fortunately, I've got someone on my side.

Meet my marathon training buddy, Sandy.


She and I have committed to a summer of training with each other, and we aren't cutting the other one any slack. We promise to run our three training runs each week, on pace and as scheduled.

And it's already making a difference for me. She and I are in our third week of training, and more than once I have completed my scheduled run only because I didn't want to have to text her and say, "I skipped it."

It's crazy, right? I'll be better to a buddy than I am to myself. But I think we're all like that in a way. So this works for me and I'm going to stick with it.

Sandy, my friend, thanks for already helping me improve as a runner. And come September, when you and I are flashing our beautiful, shiny new marathon finisher's medals, we'll both know that we made it together!


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