10+1 reasons why RUNNING and ENTREPRENEURSHIP are alike (and a short Christmas story)

Today I was in a seminar and discussed the similarities between running an ultra marathon and creating a business.

My thoughts started when I was walking through the mall with my family, we passed by the pre-race expo of the @Samui Marathon. All that energetic music and excited crowds reminded me of my old days as a pro-athlete. Suddenly my son Franky said to me, “Daddy, why did you stop running races? Are you getting old?”

If he was just my friend but not my son, I would have said, “I am scared of losing, I am not training, and I am scared of pain plus my age made me lazy.”

Instead I said, “No, I am not getting old. In fact, tomorrow I WILL run the race.” So I signed up right there and collected my bib.

I couldn’t sleep that night. When I showed up at the race (and scared as hell) I made a promise to myself: I will finish the 55K race even if I had to walk. I ran the whole thing and came in top 10.

The amount of pain was just out of the ordinary, so was the amount of joy. During my 55K “spontaneous” ultramarathon I came up with these theories (I had a good 5 hours to think!):

• Starting a business and starting a marathon both need an act of courage
• If you are afraid to start you will never know if you can make it. Do you want to die with doubt or prove them wrong? Trying gives you a 50% chance to succeed, not trying is a 100% chance of failure.
• Tell yourself that failure is not an option and there is no plan B, just pivots (walking for example) if you accept plan B you are intimately neglecting plan A. The finish line is the goal, no matter how, no matter what.
• Starting a business and running a marathon will expose you to pain. To win or finish the race you need to keep moving and trust the process. Adjust your pace (or pivot in business) faster or slower till you cruise.
• Both marathon and business: one step after the other, no rushing, no stopping. If you rush, you burn and collapse. It’s a slow process and the final game is “to be in the game for the longest time”
• Planning your finances in business is like planning you energy expenditure in running. Burn slowly, don’t overdue.
• We are never too old to start a business and we are never too old to run a marathon. The runner after me (I came 9th overall) he was 58!
• The amount of pain that you experience being an entrepreneur is equal to the potential amount of satisfaction that you will derive. Same as an ultramarathon.
• Make a statement and tell people what you are doing. By doing this you give yourself a little healthy pressure that will force you to go ahead. I did the same with my son, my strongest bond, I would never disappoint him.
• Moments of joy came unexpectedly but they will come. You need to be around, the more the chances increase. Franky was waiting for me at the 49th Km. The last 6K I was literally flying. When you least expect it, your business may start rolling and then you will feel like you have wings on you.
• The last and most important one. You need to be surrounded by positive people, the beginning phases, and the hard ones especially. Have a positive team around, people that blow on the fire of the dream and infect you positively. Many naysayers will find ways to stop you, many of them are even your closest ones. If I didn’t have my family to prove what I am made of I would probably have never done it. My mom and dad were my biggest support when I started my entrepreneur journey, my kids and wife then carried on that support in my whole adult life.

I am surrounded by good people, both at the shining finish line or those painful mornings after. To me, this was my biggest victory.

Now I get why we say we “run” a business!