Income for Life

The marathon and a lesson about life

Last Sunday, I ran in the Disney Marathon. When I started training for this marathon in 2008, my goal was to finish in 4 hours. This meant that I would have to average about 9 minutes per mile. In 1995 (when I was 25 years old), I ran in the Cleveland marathon. I finished this marathon in 4 hours and 47 minutes. A lady pushing a jogger stroller with two kids inside beat me by an hour. Really, she did.

I enjoy running, but wouldn't be considered a "real" runner. I didn't compete in high school. I simply run for exercise and stress relief. I wanted to set a challenging goal that I could accomplish right in the beginning of 2009 to give me momentum for the rest of the New Year.

A marathon seemed like the perfect choice.

Throughout my training, I struggled with knee problems. I found a great podiatrist and learned that my knee problems were caused because I pronate my feet as they strike the ground. He suggested many things to help correct the problem. He recommended special running shoes and orthotics. I found his recommended shoes and they made a big difference. My knee pain began to disappear. I was fitted for special orthotics and they finally arrived the week before the marathon. (I wasn't able to use them during the race...)

According to my running logs, here are my training numbers:

26 weeks of preparation

62.3 hours of running

524 miles covered

72,836 calories burned

All of this to run one 4 hour race....

I ended up missing my goal time, but I finished the marathon in 4 hours and 35 minutes. This was a little faster than my time from 13 years ago. I hit the "wall" at mile 18 and suffered through mile 26.
I must have been dehydrated at the end of the marathon because I felt nauseous for several hours after the race. I was also extremely sore and hobbled around for two days. Stairs were definitely my enemy.

In the midst of the pain after the race, I made the following statement to my wife:

"I'm never running another marathon again."

I've now recovered, for the most part, and feel pretty good. I actually kicked out a few miles yesterday. Guess what I realized?

I realized that it would be a big mistake to "never run another marathon again." I thought about everything I went through to prepare for this marathon. All of the long training runs, the podiatrist appointments, the new special shoes, the orthotics and the actual experience of the race itself.

What is the purpose of running a marathon, if you don't use what you learn again in the future? What I should have said was:

"Boy my next marathon is going to be a piece of cake"

Think about it. I now have the right shoes. I also have special orthotics. These two items will eliminate my knee pain. I won't have to deal with any of this for my next marathon. I also have a great running base from all of my training. I have my high tech running watch which tracks my pace and heart rate. I have a special running belt that allows me to carry water as I run. I have everything I need, plus experience.

I finally realized that the next marathon would be a lot easier than the one I just ran. I also realized that I would probably be able to shave more time off of the next marathon because of my previous training.

Ok, you're probably saying to yourself:

"Great, you're going to run another marathon. Good for you! How does this relate to me?"

Investors make the exact same mistake with their investments. Several years ago a really good friend of mine invested in used mobile home. The plan was to sell the used mobile home to a buyer with financing and create a nice monthly cash-flow. This investment was similar to my daughter's first investment. The problem was he bought this mobile home in the wrong park. He had a hell of a time selling this mobile home because the park had a bad reputation. He boldly stated that he would never make another mobile home investment again. Sound familiar?

Back in 2000, I lost a great deal of money in the stock market crash. I boldly stated that I would never invest in the stock market again. Sound familiar?

Investing can be a painful process, especially if you have a problem or two with one of your first investments.

Wouldn't you make the same mistake I almost made if you decide not to invest again because of these problems? You see, you probably learned a great deal making the original investment. You invested a lot of time, made some mistakes and finally figured everything out. These experiences would allow you to do a better job on your second investment. Would my friend have bought another used mobile home in the same mobile home park? No. He would have avoided this park in all future investments. 

The pain or problems you encounter aren't important. They are only temporary. What is important is the knowledge we accumulate along the way. It would be a complete waste to accumulate this knowledge and not apply it again. 

So I've decided to run in the Cleveland Marathon in May 2009. I hope you decide to put your investing shoes back on, too! Oh and deep within this post there is another buried lesson about preparation. Do you see it?

Also see my related post titled "Short Term Thinking Destroys Long Term Results."

The ants, the ants, the ants...

This is a picture of an ant hill from my drive way. My kids must have dropped some food or something because we had several small ant hills pop up one night. As my kids were playing outside, I watched the ants for a few minutes. These little buggers were working like crazy. They were all in motion doing something. I'm not sure what they were doing, but they were definitely hustling. It was amazing to watch.

Have you ever watched ants at work?

I know this activity is at the top of your "To Do" list, right? It sounds about as fun as building your own ant farm! Before we write off the ants, I think there might be something to learn from them.

Later that night after telling my kids to put their toys away for the 8th time, I got the broom out and swept away all of the ant hills. Basically, I devastated their little ant village. I wonder if my broom storm was reported on their nightly ant news?

I finally got my kids in for the night and was happy to have fixed our ant problem. The next morning when I opened my garage, I noticed all of the ant hills were back. These ants worked all night long and rebuilt what I had taken away. This happened all within 12 hours.

Maybe ants know how to handle adversity. They just get to work rebuilding what was lost.

• They don't sit around complaining to each other.
• They don't blame all of the other ants for their problems.
• They don't ask their ant government to bail them out.
• And finally, they don't give up on life.

They simply get back to work. The next day, I got my broom out again. I swept away the ant hills for second time. I also grabbed my ant spray and sprayed all around the ant hill village. Guess what happened?

They built another ant hill. Talk about persistence...

We all face adversity in our lives. What we do when adversity hits is extremely important for success in our lives. We should remember the ant strategy and copy it for ourselves. Simply get to work rebuilding and recreate what was lost.

By the way, have you ever seen an ant relax? I haven't. I wonder if this is something we can learn from, too?

Rob Minton

Let it snow, let it snow...

I don't know if you heard about the wicked snow storm we had over the weekend in Ohio, or not. In the States, our storm seemed to dominate the Weather Channel. The storm was brutal to say the least. The above picture was taken from my kitchen out on to our deck. That is my lovely finger! In about 30 hours, we received 36.5 inches of snow. (Click on the picture to see the exact measurement.)

Everyone in the area was forced to change any and all plans that they had for the weekend. We were supposed to have a family birthday party for my daughter. We had family scheduled to travel in from out of State, however, the party was canceled. We ended making the best of the snow and turned the big birthday party into a small snow party. It turned out to be a fun weekend with my family. The kids loved climbing on the biggest snow pile we have ever seen at the bottom of our driveway! By the way, I'm "King of the Mountain!" I did have a 120 pound advantage over my competition :)

My wife forwarded a funny story about the snow. Unfortunately, I don't know who wrote this story, but they did an awesome job! Here it is...

December 8
6:00 PM. It started to snow. The first snow of the season and the wife and I took our cocktails and sat for hours by the window watching the huge soft flakes drift down from heaven. It looked like a Grandma Moses Print. So romantic we felt like newlyweds again. I love snow!

December 9
We woke to a beautiful blanket of crystal white snow covering every inch of the landscape. What a fantastic sight! Can there be a more lovely place in the Whole World? Moving here was the best idea I've ever had. Shoveled for the first time in years and felt like a boy again. I did both our driveway and the sidewalks. This afternoon the snowplow came along and covered up the sidewalks and closed in the driveway, so I got to shovel again. What a perfect life.

December 12
The sun has melted all our lovely snow. Such a disappointment. My neighbor tells me not to worry, we'll definitely have a white Christmas. No snow on Christmas would be awful! Bob says we'll have so much snow by the end of winter, that I'll never want to see snow again. I don't think that's possible. Bob is such a nice man, I'm glad he's our neighbor.

December 14
Snow lovely snow! 8" last night. The temperature dropped to -20. The cold makes everything sparkle so. The wind took my breath away, but I warmed up by shoveling the driveway and sidewalks. This is the life! The snowplow came back this afternoon and buried everything again. I didn't realize I would have to do quite this much shoveling, but I'll certainly get back in shape this way.

December 15
20 inches forecast. Sold my van and bought a 4x4 Blazer. Bought snow tires for the wife's car and 2 extra shovels. Stocked the freezer.
The wife wants a wood stove in case the electricity goes out. I think that's silly. We aren't in Alaska, after all.

December 16
Ice storm this morning. Fell on my butt on the ice in the driveway putting down salt. Hurt like heck. The wife laughed for one hour, which I think was very cruel.

December 17
Still way below freezing. Roads are too icy to go anywhere.
Electricity was off for 5 hours. I had to pile the blankets on to stay warm. Nothing to do but stare at the wife and try not to irritate her. Guess I should've bought a wood stove, but won't admit it to her. God I hate it when she's right. I can't believe I'm freezing to death in my own living room.

December 20
Electricity's back on, but had another 14" of the damn stuff last night. More shoveling. Took all day. Darn snowplow came by twice.
Tried to find a neighbor kid to shovel, but they said they're too busy playing hockey. I think they're lying. Called the only hardware store around to see about buying a snow blower and they're out. Might have another shipment in March. I think they're lying. Bob says I have to shovel or the city will have it done and bill me. I think he's lying.

December 22
Bob was right about a white Christmas because 13 more inches of the white crap fell today, and it's so cold it probably won't melt till August. Took me 45 minutes to get all dressed up to go out to shovel and then I had to go to the bathroom. By the time I got undressed, went to the bathroom and got dressed again, I was too tired to shovel. Tried to hire Bob who has a plow on his truck for the rest of the winter; but he says he's too busy. I think the jerk is lying.

December 23
Only 2" of snow today. And it warmed up to 0. The wife wanted me to decorate the front of the house this morning. What is she nuts!!! Why didn't she tell me to do that a month ago? She says she did but I think she's lying.

December 24
6". Snow packed so hard by snowplow, I broke the shovel. Thought I was having a heart attack. If I ever catch the man who drives that snowplow I'll drag him through the snow by his nose and beat him to death with my broken shovel. I know he hides around the corner and waits for me to finish shoveling and then he comes down the street at 100 miles an hour and throws snow all over where I've just been!
Tonight the wife wanted me to sing Christmas carols with her and open our presents, but I was too busy watching for the snowplow.

December 25
Merry -bleeping- Christmas! 20 more inches of the slop tonight. Snowed in. The idea of shoveling makes my blood boil. I hate the snow! Then the snowplow driver came by asking for a donation and I hit him over the head with my shovel. The wife says I have a bad attitude. I think she's a fricking idiot. If I have to watch "It's A Wonderful Life" one more time, I'm going to stuff her into the microwave.

January 5
Still snowed in. Why the heck did I ever move here? It was all HER idea. She's really getting on my nerves.

January 7
Temperature dropped to -30 and the pipes froze, plumber came after 14 hours of waiting for him, he only charged me $1400 to replace all my pipes.

January 14
Warmed up to above -20. Still snowed in. THE WITCH is driving me crazy!!!

January 25
10 more inches. Bob says I have to shovel the roof or it could cave in. That's the silliest thing I ever heard. How dumb does he think I am?

February 2
Roof caved in. I beat up the snow plow driver he is now suing me for a million dollars not only the beating I gave him but also for trying to shove the broken snow shovel up where the sun don't shine. The wife went home to her mother. 9" predicted.

February 12
I set fire to what's left of the house. No more shoveling.

February 13
Feel so good. I just love those little white pills they keep giving me. Why am I tied to the bed?

I can certainly appreciate this guy's situation! I guess the lesson to take from this, if there is one, - is to just try and go with the flow. Make the best of whatever is happening. This goes for everything in life, not just the weather. It applies to our investments, our jobs, our family - everything. Have fun and don't take things too seriously.

Rob Minton