Blog > Running with your Arms

07 March 2007

As some of you know I have very recently taken up running... and yesterday I learned something amazing and suprising. Running isn't about your legs, it's about your arms.

I was running along the road when (for no good reason) my arms, which had hitherto flopped vaugely backwards and forwards, began to pump. This unexpected action resulted in a strange and immediate increase in speed, and seemed to involve my legs not at all. This is interesting. Ever since I've got back into running (after a thirteen year absence) I've spent almost all my time thinking about my legs. That's the obvious thing to do. It never occurred to me to focus any attention on my arms. Using your arms to run is counter-intuitive... your legs demand all the attention... you have to really fight to think about anything else.

When I left IBM (and my regular paycheck) behind I spent almost all my time obsessing about "Making Sales". Of course that's the obvious thing to do... all the books focus on "Making Sales"... and without them, obviously, you are finished. And of course the only thing that makes sense, once you've made a sale, is to do the work as quickly as possible so that you can get back to making more sales.

It's difficult, and counter intuitive, to lavish time on the work and relationships that are already "in the bank", but the results are strange and surprising. A lot like running with your arms.


Note: "Running", in my case, is a hopelessly optimistic description. Think of it more as a heaving, wheezing mass, rolling slowly along the road. Small children slipstream me in their pushchairs. Pensioners fly past by with their zimmer frames, stopping only to ask if I need help.
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Posted by Nick Warren at 8:52 AM