I Live in Iowa: Week 93

This was a good week. A good week with plenty of learning. At work there was, and still is I suppose, a high priority issue. It is on a product I have been working on for a long time. So I want to help as much as I can, but strictly speaking it is out of my realm of job duties. This kind of brings up an interesting issue, am I hired to be the most productive and solve the most pressing problems I can or am I hired to solve the most pressing problems in one specific skill set? It's not an easy question to answer. Saturday evening on the ride home from a track meet I watched this lecture by Gabe Newell, the Valve founder, which is really amazing. The best hour long business productivity philosophy lecture I have ever heard. If I taught a business class I would watch this lecture in class and then discuss it. Getting back to my job duties in the corporation, three different examples:

• A piece of food falls on the floor. Should I pick it up and throw it away or leave it, perhaps several days, for the janitor?
• A customer wants information about something. Should I give the customer the information if I have what he or she requests?
• The customer is happy with only X. Do we offer the customer X and Y even though the customer has not asked for Y?

I had a very good week in running! I ran a 2:08 800 meter race to get under 2:09 for the first time! I'm fast! (Okay, it's kind of a joke because 2:08 in the 800 is like professional 5k and 10k pace.) However, I did double in a race Saturday with a 4:40.68 mile first and the 800 about 90 minutes later. The fact that I set a personal record in the second race of the day, and it is in one of my weakest events, at age 26 is a good sign. I do not set as many PRs as I used to so they seem to mean more these days, despite the fact I still have plenty of potential left.

Coaching is going well overall. People are setting personal records, workouts and being done, including a massive 8200 meter 30 minute tempo this week on the outdoor track. It is very rewarding to see the athletes progress, both in performance on the track and also in maturity off the track. The path we are trying to follow is a tough one. It is personal, it is difficult, personalities clash, old friends leave and new egos arrive.

What else happened? Frankly, after running in the morning, or just going to work, then running in the evening, going home and eating supper, and finally taking a shower I don't have much energy left, even if I do want to socialize with others face to face more, it's easy to lay around at home. That being said, I'm working on something. It will be a surprise. It will be easily shareable and considering most of the people I know who tell me they read this blog, I think you will find it interesting. Plus, I feel that if enough people see it, someone will use the idea to improve her or his life. Here is a hint, I am struggling with a significant detail of it, a graphing problem. Honestly, that will not help you guess at all.