Giving back that entry fee!

Wednesday, October 22, 2014 · Mike Davis

Good morning, Apparently the east coast is experiencing some pretty lousy weather and flying back to Boston tomorrow will be lots of fun! I have been down in DC for the week spending some time with a advisory group that I have been a member of since 2007. This particular advisory group is comprised of 8 representatives from throughout the entire Air National Guard and we spend endless hours trying to improve processes, procedures, policy and position descriptions. Pretty challenging and thankless, but there are some moments that make the effort gratifying. Often it is like pushing a huge rock up hill, only to have it roll back down and have to start over. Patients and persistence pretty much sum up the requirements for being successful with this group, much like training to run a marathon. One of the toughest things to experience is signing up for a particular race and before even getting to the start line an injury happens. The frustration is two fold, one you are not able to run the race and two; you are most likely out your entry fee. Both frustrations are difficult to deal with and unfortunately some runners don't make the right decision when faced with it. Injuries are a fact of life in the running world and there are a small, small few that have not had to deal with them. All the rest of us have experienced the frustrations that prevent us from running at various times as well as being derailed during training for a particular race. A couple years ago I signed up for the Vermont City marathon and I was really pumped because I was trying a new training strategy, but in the later stages of my training my hip pain became unbearable and my quest for Vermont ended. While it was not a quick decision, it became apparent that I would not be able to train sufficiently to run Vermont City in a healthy way. As a professional running coach I knew that trying to finish out my training and somehow getting through a marathon would not be smart nor beneficial for my long term running. Unfortunately I have witnessed many that are unwilling to succumb to certain realities and push or even crawl to a finish line. While I may get frustrated being witness to that behavior, it become more than a frustration when we are coaching someone who is struggling with these circumstances. Both the client and the "No Finish Line Running" investment is considerable when we partner up to train for a particular race and when an injury happens we (NFLR) have to separate ourselves from the personal side. Because NFLR training is based on the individual we get pretty personal with our runners and often that leads to becoming a fan as well as a coach. However it is critical for the runner that we maintain our objectivity because often they are solely focused on the finish line. Hmm, "No Finish Line Running" starts to loose its meaning! Despite our best efforts over the years we have had runners that have come up injured during training for a particular race and while some have willingly trusted us and bypassed the race, others have been stubborn and moved forward despite our advice. I totally get the stubbornness because that was once me. Now as the CEO of NFLR I am more determined than ever that our runners will not push through injuries or continue training for a race unless they are healthy enough to do so. We will always do everything we can to keep our runners healthy or help them work through injuries that arise, but we will never sacrifice our belief in healthy running. We feel so strongly that we have decided to now start reimbursing our runners entry fees when it is determined that they should not run a particular race we are helping them train for. It is highly unlikely that you will find another coach that is willing to do this, but we strongly feel that we should be looking out for the best interest of our runners and we don't want losing out on the entry fee to be a factor when making the right and healthy decision. Truly our runners come first and while this may mean that we battle with a few over the best way forward, that is okay. Time to get a moving. Hope you have a great day! Mike