Back in November I wrote an article called “What Running is Teaching Me”. It was about endurance, pressing on through pain, attacking difficult things…stuff like that. Shortly thereafter, I quit running. Hey, I injured myself!

Now after three months off, I’m back at it, running more than ever. Slower than ever too. But that’s OK for now. Sometimes your time doesn’t matter.

Sometimes it does. When I was 15, I went out for track. In our first meet, Coach Z. had me run the mile. My time was something like 6:10. I’d love to be able to run a mile in 6:10 today, but THAT day 6:10 nearly got me lapped in a four-lap race! It was humiliating, and would have been more so had there been any spectators!

That was IT for me and track meets. I stuck out the season, but I decided right then that I wouldn’t put myself through that again, and I milked injuries and sore muscles the rest of the year to stay off the track.

There were two things I didn’t know before that race.

1. I didn’t know what the winning time would be (it was about 5:20).
2. I didn’t know what time I was capable of running.

This was such an embarrassing experience for me that it has taken me 27 years to realize that Coach Z. also had no idea what my time would be. Although we had logged some fairly long distances in practice, I had never once ran the mile against the clock. I was unprepared and didn’t know it. He didn’t know it either.

When we lead people, we have a responsibility to help them not only to expand their abilities but also to accurately assess what they’re capable of today. If I put people in situations where the ability needed is just a little bit more than what they have, it can be motivational. But if the situation requires twice their current ability, it will be disheartening. And I’m responsible.