Owning the Moment

A year ago today I was in New York, recovering from one of the most grueling experiences of my life.  The New York Marathon.

• I was undertrained
• I was overweight
• I was out of my league
• I was pretty sure I wouldn't do very well

Not quite the ringing endorsement for a marathoner.  But I was faced with a very simple choice:

• Run it and push through enduring it all,
• Take my time, enjoy it, own it, and see what comes, or
• Drop out

Well I'm not one to quit, pushing was likely to get me injured.  Or I could own the moment.

So I did.

Empire State Building Lit Up

Boarding the Staten Island Ferry

 26.2 miles of people jammed packed 5 people deep on either side of the road there to cheer on 50,000 strangers as they ran through the streets of their city, completely messing up traffic.

If ever there is a moment to own... this was it.  The greatest marathon in the greatest city in the world.  With the greatest people in the world.  An experience truly unlike any other.

Starting Line

 If you ever want to know what you are truly made of, challenge yourself.  But when you do.  Don't just do something small, do something real.  Big.  Unexpected.

A statue the French sent us

On the last .2 mi

 It was absolutely amazing.  I would never have had it any other way.  And I was even with friends who had inspired me.

But that wasn't enough.

With my Friend Andrew who coached me

Now I needed to have a little fun.

So that night at dinner, I set the stage.

A pretty great pizza joint off of Times Square.

In the picture with Andrew you can see a staircase behind me.  That's where I owned the moment.  After all I have done, I wanted to have a little fun.  So I told everyone at the table, I was heading to the top, and I wanted them to applaud whatever I did.  They complied...

I had the entire restaurant applauding me.  A few even came over and congratulated me, one asked if I won.

Yes... Yes I did!

I owned the moment!

See what owning the moment can do for you!