#29 Wings for Life

On Sunday, I participated, together with my Monika, in Wings for Life Run. The Wings for Life World Run is a running competition, which raises funds for spinal cord research. You run until the Catcher Car passes you and the tricky part is that you have to run faster to make every additional kilometer. To achieve 70 km – like this year's winner Watanabe Tomoya from Japan – you have to run at a pace of 3.5 minutes per kilometer, which is incredibly fast.

We completed 12.83 km, and I am really proud – this is a steep improvement from 9 km last year. I have never been a runner, nor was it my favorite activity, but I ran farther than ever before on Sunday.

I managed to improve so much thanks to Monika, who is a sports teacher and loves to run. The lessons she passed on to me sound familiar: focus on the process, be patient, practice regularly not fast, and results will come naturally with time. It is similar to learning a new language or managing a significant long-term project at work: focus on the process, don’t dream big but take small, regular steps.

Another observation is both sour and sweet. After the race I was looking at the global results and I was astonished by the group of people over 80 years old. The male winner covered over 35 kilometers, and the female winner almost 17 kilometers. Remarkably, the Swiss dominated these groups, with 7 men and 6 women in the top ten, which is very impressive and inspiring. You can see them when hiking in the Swiss mountains. Older folks don't stay home; they are out as well and hike exceptionally well.

At the age of 54, after 30 years of work, I dream about the next 30 years of my professional career. It sounds ambitious, but the fitness of these remarkable people is a profound inspiration for longevity and resilience. Maybe my plan is not that far-fetched after all...