Ottawa Fall Colours Marathon

I hope everyone is enjoying their Thanksgiving weekend.

I was in Ottawa this weekend and ran the Ottawa Fall Colours Marathon. I actually had not really planned to run it but needed a long run to train for New York which is coming up in a month. I figured it would get me out for a long run if I registered. I had been doing the minimulist training which is not the best in my experience. I deliberately ran slow since it was meant to be a training run. For those unfamiliar with marathons - they are all the same distance - 26.2 miles (42.2 Km). So it s a bit of a distance.

Thank goodness the weather was perfect, unlike Chicago where the marathon was cancelled. There was a bit of chill in the air while wating for the start but as soon as we started, it was perfect. Slightly overcast. About 17 degrees C. And as promised by the name - the fall coulours were spectacular.

I started the race too fast and deliberately eased off. The field was small with perhaps only 700 runners if you take into account the other distances being run (there was a 5K, 10K and half marathon all being run at the same time although I am not certain which races started at the same time). The first half flew by quickly and easily despite a rather nasty hill right near the start. I finished the first half in 2:07 which was a bit fast for a training run for me.

The race for the full marathon was 2 loops so after the first half, it seemed anticlimatic to start the second loop. And the number of racers on the course really thinned out. There were only 101 people in the full marathon. It was truly a solitary run from the half way point. I slowed my pace to about 7 min per Km from the 6 min I was doing for the first half.

At about 32K, my body was telling me "enough" so I really had to kick in the will power just to keep moving forward. I began walking for long stretches. I had calculated that I could actually walk the full last 10 K and still be OK for the 5 hour course time limit. Perhaps that was the wrong calucation to do because I started walking more. I repeated the "pain is temporary - pride is forever" line more than a few times to get through.

Eventually I finished. My time was 4:45 which was slower than I had intended but I am still proud of having finished an awesome training run.

But running the marathon was not the stupidest thing I did yesterday, I got in the car and drove for 5 hours after the run. Bad idea to run a marathon then sit in a car for that long.

Today I am having a fairly productive day in the office preparing for the week. Although I do notice I am less eager to hop up and go get things. Something about desk work is appealing today.

Maple Leafs vs Senators

I lead a charmed life.

I was fortunate tonight to attend dinner (with HSBC) and the Leafs season opener against the Ottawa Senators courtesy of my good friend Warren Spitz. Senators won 4-3.

In the box (courtesy of Tom Bitove) was the head of the Canadian military - general Rick Hillier and deputy Toronto Police Chief Kim Derry. Both men seemed to be very nice and struck me as being good leaders and spokespersons.

I met one of my friends on the way out of the game who asked my how Kaitlin was doing. Kaitlin has touched a lot of hearts. (She is doing much better.) And then she asked me if I would work less because of Kaitlin's accident. Interesting question that had never crossed my mind. The implication is that working hard is not what I want to do. I choose to work hard because I want to and do not regret making that choice.

Does make me think though (and that is never a bad thing).

GetAbstract and Greg Brophy

One of my articles "Sixty Minutes to Clear Goals" was published on Womanslife.

I was saddened to hear of Greg Brophy's death. He was a great entrepreneur and way too young to die.


I have been reading book abstracts lately from www.getabstract.com. Because I enjoy reading, I sometimes find that the abstracts take away some of that job; however, sometimes I just want the information in which case abstracts are a great way to be informed. One interesting abstract that I read was on the Black Swan, the impact of the highly improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

The book talks about the impact of luck and the fact that some things are simply caused by luck where many times we tend to attribute them to hard work or intelligence or making great decisions.

I have long felt that I am “lucky”. I often say I live a charmed life.

As the book points out, it doesn’t mean just because you are lucky that there wasn’t some skill, intelligence, or preparedness involved. Some of the points that the book makes are:

Keep your eyes open for black swans (things that seem improbable)

Beliefs are sticky but don’t get glued to them

Know that in many cases, you cannot know

As a forecasting period lengthens, prediction errors grow exponentially

Expose yourself to “Positive black swans” – And, at the same time, hedge against negative ones. “Bet pennies to win dollars.”

Look for the nonobvious

Avoid dogmatism – think for yourself. Avoid nerds(tough in the computer business) and herds.

Blogger Guilt

Bloggers feel guilt when they do not blog. Guilt is good if it prompts positive action. Bad if it causes unneccessary stress. So I let it go and just blog fast tonight.

Kaitlin is doing much better. Will be a long recovery though.

Great quote in the Globe in an article on marathoning:

"Dedication and committment are what transfer dreams into reality."

and

"Only those who risk going too farcan possibly find out how far they can go."

The same page had a piece that fit people sweat more and sooner than unfit people. This muggy hot weather is sure bad for that. Perhaps I sweat the little things (like not blogging) too much.

All for now.

More on Kaitlin

Thanks to all for your kind emails and calls on Kaitlin. I never knew I had that many people who read this blog (well I can see the statisitcs but it does not tell me actually who people are).

Kaitlin has spoken which is a good sign. She told the nurses to get out of her room which is typical of Kaitlin and tells me she is OK. She told the nurses she only wants to have 5 children. She does not yet recognize anyone including her family. Still - progress but a long way to go.

This incident will set a lot of who Kaitlin will choose to become. Overcoming great obstacle can create great people.

Jessalyn (Kaitlin's sister) has set up a web site with a guest book.

I cried when I read all the caring comments people made.

My blog formula is 90% business with a focus on efficiency and 10% personal.

Tonight, I violate this formula and only blog personal.

Last night my beautiful 16 year old niece Kaitlin Estill was involved in a very serious car accident. This quickly changes thought and focus. She has a broken pelvis, collar bone, collapsed lung, ripped aorta, lacerated liver and fractured skull. Heart surgery allegedly went well tonight although she has a brain hemorrhage while in surgery or while coming out. No other update.

It has dominated my thoughts since it happened. It dwarfs business challenge.

I feel so helpless and powerless. I guess this is where thoughts and prayers come in. It make one feel like they are doing something.

My brother Lyle (the Bio -Diesel mogul) is an active blogger. He is an excellent writer and has posts on how she is doing.

The Halo Effect

Phil Rosenzweig wrote an interesting book called, "The Halo Effect and Eight Other Business Delusions That Deceive Managers."

I have often said that when I am not performing well, that I am better than what people think I am and when I am performing well, I am not as good as what people think I am. The Halo Effect can have a great impact. I noticed that if a company is on a roll and successful then more people want to work there and more people want to buy from there, etc. The opposite can also be true if a company gets the reputation of not being a good place to work, etc.

The gist of The Halo Effect is it tends to accentuate either the positive or the negative and gives attributes to someone that the person does not have because of their expertise in another area. For example, business people are often asked (and listened to) for their advice on politics or sports but they may have no expertise at all in that area.

I often find because of my success in business that people ask me for advice about things that I would have little knowledge of and they tend to weigh my advice more heavily then they should. One of the reason I seek success as much as I do is because it actually means that people do tend to listen and we all like people to listen to us.

Some take-aways from the book…

-The "Halo Effect" occurs when people ascribe positive attributes to a person or company, even without evidence that the positive traits, in fact, really exist.

-The halo effect is rooted in cognitive dissonance theory: people want a cohesive picture of the world, and so they disregard facts that don’t fit that framework.

- Some famous business books were based on delusions about company performance. The authors were victims of the halo effect, snowed by fleeting success and shallow data.

- Most business studies try to extrapolate upbeat results from meager correlations.

- Real performance emanates from inside a company and its market.

- Tom Peters, co-author of In Search of Excellence, said its data was "faked." The stock prices of more than half the top companies in Built to Last did not beat the S&P 500 in five years after the book was published.

- Company performance is relative to assess it, see it in a competitive context.

- Long-term success is comprised of a series of short-term successes. Companies that adapt have a greater chance of sustained success.

- Beware of "storytelling that masquerades as science."