Day 266 - The Gift of a Run

The gift you receive for being a runner is that peace of mind is always just a run away.

Today, I needed a run. And I was so glad it was there for the taking.

Work is piling up. Questions, so many questions.

I'm a Product Manager at a software company. At this particular time, as we plan our next release, that means that I am the source of information, and the decision maker. I have to make a hundred decisions, on the spot, that will determine the course of the product, the specifics of its features, and the work for dozens of super smart engineers over the next few months. And all of that work will cost the company a lot of money.

There's a lot of pressure there.

Typically, a project manager will ask me something like "Does feature X need to support sub-feature Y?"

And then they stand there, at the threshold of my office, waiting for an answer. An answer that could mean that the feature doesn't meet the market's needs, or pushes out the schedule, or costs me the chance to implement something more important, more valuable.

And this happens all day.

And I really enjoy it.

Still, a good hard run on the trails, the type of run that leaves dirt on my ankles and a couple scrapes on my shins, takes the edge off, resets the system.

After my run my head was clear. I was ready for more questions, and more decisions.

And I can promise that those decisions were better than they would have been if I hadn't had accepted that gift of a good run.

Good running,
Doug

Numbers: 2.6 miles on trails.