Marathon Running, The Long Tail and Valuable Business Lessons

The Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2009 came around last Sunday. I eventually ticked another item off my New Year’s Resolutions list by completing the 21km half-marathon, my first ever, but not without pains and frustration. Despite being able to run continuously for 90 minutes and feeling strong and tireless at the 14km mark, I had to switch to brisk walking because of a prior niggling injury to my right ankle. That meant shifting my weight to the left leg, and soon I was cramping out on that leg. One thing led to another and soon both legs were developing muscle pains.

Thinking is a Painkiller

I began writing this blog post in my head for the next 5km. That somewhat took away the troubling thoughts that I will not reach the Finish Line in 2.5 hours (my goal on the outset). In any case, many of my blog posts had been written while on my daily runs. The experts do say that running makes you smarter. I certainly like the tone of that.

As I have been reading Chris Anderson’s The Long Tail lately, naturally my mind drifted there. Observing the massive throng of people (well, mostly folks speeding past me), a theoretical connection clicked, from which more thoughts poured in.

Here’s the result of killing pain with brain juicing.

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