I’ve been a track and field junkie since law school. That’s when I started racing marathons, not anywhere near Olympic level, but enough to qualify for the major marathons and compete in my age group.
I loved the training, competing, and racing marathons despite some of the physical pain and the disappoint that came with not an achieving a time after three months of training.
In track and field I came to love attending the NCAA championships, the U.S. trials, even the world indoor championships. One of my all-time favorites was watching Ireland’s Eamonn Coghlan, the “Chairman of the Boards,” dominate the indoor mile at Madison Square Garden. Named our son Eamon after Coghlan.
So when I walked into 8am’s Kaleidoscope Conference In Austin this morning and saw that Harvard Grad Gabby Thomas, last year’s Olympic gold medalist in the 200 meters in Paris, was the keynote speaker, I was pretty pumped. Even though I couldn’t help but think about how much slower I run today compared to the speed work we used to do on the track in Sacramento.
Gabby did not disappoint, she was inspirational.
She shared a simple framework for handling both success and struggle in life, sports and in my case, business, and life:
If you’re having too many really good days, you’re not challenging yourself enough. You have to have some type of setback, some type of challenge. And you need to have some that are just okay days, where you feel comfortable. Because if they’re all too hard, maybe you need to dial back. And if they’re all really bad, you’re probably doing something wrong.
A third good, a third okay, a third tough. It’s a balance that I can work and build on in my life.
On bad stretches, Gabby said the key is not to panic.
Part of it is you trust your team that you’ve built around you. Trust your coach, trust your medical team, and trust the process. It’s very easy to stray from the strategy when you’re unsure and panicking. But the trick is to stay true to the process and stay true to your strategy, which should be connected to a longer-term goal.
Being at a legal tech conference, of course data and AI enters the conversation. Gabby said yes they have data for every toe plant and every step that can be plotted with AI, but she reminded us that data can be overwhelming, and that it’s not the answer in itself.
It’s really important to have it as a guiding resource rather than an end-all deal. Every day is about getting better at something, and I go to practice every day with some kind of intention.
Running a relay with runners you are trying to beat the heck out of in individual races and do very few reps with for practice is all about about any high-performing team.
At the end of the day, it’s mutual respect and trust. I trust the second leg runner to come in and do her job, just as I trust the anchor to do hers. And we can do that when we trust each other to focus on our own jobs. Then we get to celebrate together.
I’m still a kid at heart, it was a thrill to hear from one of the world’s fastest women. But I guess more than that, it was a reminder that the lessons of racing and the work on the track—about setbacks, trust, data, and teamwork—carry well beyond sport.
Thanks 8am for bringing Gabby in.