Sunday morning I ran the Philadelphia 10K.
There’s something hypnotic about running in a river of other people, with everyone’s footsteps sounding like rainfall, carrying us all along with the current.
As I ran, a number of little revelations crystallized in my mind.
My usual daily exercise is around 4 miles, plus or minus. So a 10K race, i.e 6.2 miles, is my favorite kind of race because it’s a good challenge at ~50% longer than I usually go, but not so much of stretch that I need to put serious training into it.
✅ Lesson #1: Know what your limits are, and when it's time to push them.
Choosing Where to Put Your Energy
Training for a half marathon at 13.1 miles would be a pipe dream at this point. And forget a full marathon. That would require a level of commitment and effort that I have neither the interest nor the bandwidth to take on at this point.
At that point, it would be so much work that it would take the fun out of it. When a hobby becomes more of a job than a joy, what’s the point?
✅ Lesson #2: Choosing where to put your energy and for what purpose, whether personal or for something greater than yourself, is half the battle.
The City of Brotherly Love Shows Up
So I showed up Sunday at 6:30am in South Philadelphia ready to go. Thank goodness it was a beautiful day, sunny and about 68 degrees.
One of the things I love about this race is that so many people line the sidewalks, cheering us on along the way. It's days like this when Philadelphia really earns its nickname as the City of Brotherly Love.
Some of them have really funny and encouraging signs, which I appreciate. A little girl about five years old, standing with her family around mile 2, had a sign that said “Keep going, almost done!” in big letters. Then in the fine print in parenthesis: “(Maybe. We actually have no idea.)” 😆
It made me laugh out loud, which I appreciate at any point along the course.
✅ Lesson #3: Notice and appreciate when others are offering their support, in whatever form it may come.
What the Playlist Taught Me About Naysayers
Of course, I also had my music. The playlist for a 6-mile run (or any run) matters.
In particular, I was struck by the lyrics of the song “Thunder” by Imagine Dragons. The lines that caught my ear were:
🎵 Who do you think you are? Dreaming 'bout being a big star. … Now I'm smilin' from the stage while You were clappin' in the nosebleeds.
As the saying goes, “The person who thinks it can’t be done should not get in the way of the person doing it.”
✅ Lesson #4: Don't let the naysayers drag you down by projecting their own lack of vision and self-confidence onto you. That's their problem, not yours.
Your Definition of Victory Is Essential
For me on Sunday, the goal was just about running the whole race without stopping, and setting a 10 minute mile pace.
Anyone who's a real runner may think to themselves, “you call that running? It sounds more like walking to me!”
But I don’t care, it’s my goal, I set it for myself, and for each 10K race I run I set my next goal.
The only place I want to be a “big star” is as a role model for my kids and family, and the relevance for Sunday was just about showing up and the discipline of setting and achieving personal physical/psychological/mental health goals for myself.
I’ve said many times, I don’t like running… But I love having run. When I cross the finish line, every time, it feels great regardless of the length because I made the commitment and I saw it through even when there are times I want to stop. (It would’ve been really nice to turn the alarm off and sleep for two more hours.)
✅ Lesson #5: Keep your “why” in focus at all times.
Running My Life's Marathon
That’s how I run my life’s marathon.
🏅What is my marathon? That goal is far bigger than myself and my family.
That’s about service. To my family and community, but also to my clients, trying to be the best coach I can and serve as many people as possible.
❌ But don’t be misled – I’m far from perfect. Despite my best efforts and intentions, I stumble along the way and make mistakes, in health and fitness, with my family, and even professionally.
I made one last week that I wasn’t proud of. But I acknowledged it and asked forgiveness, which is necessary for me to have a clear conscience. I asked for a reset, and launched full-force into creating a solution to help us move forward together.
Integrity is an inherent part of the marathon. Even, and especially, when it comes served with a slice of humble pie. Like eating your veggies when you're a kid, humble pie doesn’t always taste good, but sometimes there’s nothing better for your health.
💡That’s part of the marathon goal: never thinking I’ve gotten too big to make mistakes or too big to own up to them and set things right.
✅ Lesson #6: Mistakes are only synonymous with failure if you don't own up to them and learn from them.
Why I'm Telling You Any of This
Plenty of people ran that race on Sunday. That's not why I'm writing.
When those lyrics came on, my first thought was NOT “I should post about this.”
It was: there's someone else out there who needs this boost of encouragement today, and I want to share it with them.
But wanting to give someone something isn't the same as their being able to receive it. It was still on me to frame all of this — the race, the lyrics, the little girl's sign — in a way you could recognize and actually take in.
Otherwise I keep all the value for myself and the encouragement just stays in my head, where it does nobody any good.
That's the part professionals miss. Not the work. The framing.
From the Finish Line to the Microphone
That service and value mindset is a big part of what I got into with Simone Sloan on her podcast, Your Business Greatness — and that episode is live now on Spotify and Apple podcasts..
Our conversation kept circling one shift: moving from a sales and persuasion mindset to a service and value mindset.
Stop falling in love with your product. Fall in love with your audience's needs.
When you frame what you offer in terms of what they actually need, you're not persuading anybody — you're serving them, and they can feel the difference. That's where authentic trust comes from, and it's what turns a transaction into a collaboration.
Which is Lesson #5 wearing a different outfit. Keep your “why” in focus — and make sure your “why” is pointed at someone other than yourself.
When Good Work Doesn't Land
Here's where that gets costly.
The professionals who get quietly folded into someone else's job description usually aren't the ones without value. They're the ones whose value was never named, never positioned, and never made visible to the people deciding who stays indispensable.
That's not a self-promotion problem. It's a service problem. If the people you're serving can't recognize what you're offering them, they can't use it — and the loss is theirs as much as yours.
That's exactly why I'm speaking at The Irreplaceable Professional Summit — a free 7-day virtual event running September 8–14, hosted by my colleague Sandra Fidelis, alongside a lineup of TEDx speakers, Fortune 100 coaches, and career strategists who've been featured in Forbes, BBC, Fast Company, and The Atlantic.
I'll be talking about how you show up, speak up, and make your value impossible to overlook — with your voice, your presence, and your message.
Registration is open now.
🎟️ Grab your free All-Access Pass →
✅ Lesson #7: Delivering value isn't the finish line. Framing it so the other person can recognize and receive it — that's the finish line.
Set your own definition of victory. Do the work when the alarm goes off and the bed is still warm. Own the stumbles. Serve the people in front of you.
And frame it so they can receive the full value of what you're offering them.
See you at the finish line.
