I had a 1-on-1 Coaching Call with Goldstein this morning and he hit me with a BANGER that I had to share! "Chase moments of perfection through the consistent excellence of your process" We were essentially talking about my struggle with perfection and that in the past I have always considered perfection to be hitting workouts exactly how they are prescribed when they were prescribed. But I have grown to learn that I have a flow, and that we all have moments of perfection that can be achieved through our process. It was perfect round about tonight, as I sat at Dinner with my wife and new daughter and got to enjoy a "PERFECT" moment because I showed up for myself this afternoon, got my workouts done, practiced my golf, it allowed me to find perfection. Finally, we ended off the call with a call to watch the "Perfect" Speech from Friday Night Lights. https://youtu.be/o-iPiN_YHjY?si=WvDWfkMVk79YXHFd The biggest take away from this is that Perfection is in the moments, the friends, the family, the time that you share together. Perfection is about showing up in those moments for those people and putting your best foot forward. It's not about the result on the scoreboard (for those of you that haven't seen the movie, he coaches the Permian Panthers who are down at half, but have been seeking the perfect season all year), its about being able to tell yourself, your friends and your family, that you did everything you could. I felt like this whole conversation was great to share with everyone because chasing perfection is a struggle that high performers often deal with, but we have to be able to stay present to see our perfect moments. Would love to start a thread of some pictures of people's perfect moments of late!

I went to the mountains Saturday for a big mountain bike ride. The mountains of North Carolina is one the most beautiful places in the world, and it was no exception on this day. We began our climb up to a trail called Heartbreak Ridge. It was my first time riding this one, and I heard it was a “death march” to get to the top. I can now confirm, about 6 miles of hike a bike…but with views like that? Worth it. On the climb up, we began encountering people trail running and quickly realized there was an ultra race going on. My friends and I laughed, as it was the same 50k we accidentally rode through last year also. For me though, something was different this year… The runners were all so friendly. We were of course offering encouragement, but every runner that passed was in such good spirits. And it was HOT, plus over 90% humidity. As one guy passed I yelled out “not a bad morning for a little jog huh?!” to which he replied “you got it man! only 20 miles to go!” As we pushed our bikes up the steep trail filled with roots and rocks, the runners passed us, one by one, smiling, cruising on their hard earned downhill. The guys I was with began the usual talk you’d expect from a group of mountain bikers encountering runners: “Fuck that!” “Why would you run out in this heat?” “You couldn’t pay me to run 30+ miles” It was like deja vu. We had the same conversation last year, and I distinctly remember joining right in. But now a different feeling came over me… I was…jealous. Here I was, in one of my favorite places in the world doing what I love doing most, and suddenly I wished I was running an ultra marathon? What is happening to me?! See, I’ve come to learn that’s what endurance training does to you. As you build a bit of a fitness base and cross some finish lines, you start to unlock something within yourself. You start to see the potential. The possibilities. It opens up a whole new world of adventure. One year ago seeing these guys running a 50k through Pisgah National Forest seemed like a pipe dream, something I could never do. Now, I know I could do that, and I’m probably not too far from that fitness level right now!

Workout Details: - What run did you do? Legacy Run (4x5min Z3 with Z2 recoveries) - What was your goal for this session? Nail the efforts even though legs were feeling really tired from bike workout yesterday Part 1: Reading After the Run 1. Pull out one sentence or passage from today's reading that stood out to you. Write it here: "It doesn’t matter how old I get, but as long as I continue to love I’ll always discover something new about myself. No matter how long you stand there examining yourself naked before a mirror, you’ll never see reflected what’s inside." 2. Why did this line resonate with you? Part 2: Carving Space During today's run, what quality of presence emerged that doesn't exist in other parts of your day? What made this possible? I looked forward to today’s run all day, however it kept getting pushed further and further into the day. The first half of the run felt amazing, but I hit a wall on the second half. My heart rate wasn’t matching my perceived effort at all. Ended up having to walk/run the remainder which was frustrating after some really good bike rides over the last week. On a positive note, I did feel accomplished afterward. Identify three specific areas of your life that are crowded with noise, urgency, or distraction. What's the cost of this crowding? Business, Foster Care, Travel. I have been getting caught up in the unknown and letting it run parts of my day. Need to do a better job being in control of my time and energy. For one of these areas, describe what it would look and feel like if you carved deliberate space within it—the same quality of space you experience during your runs: Traveling is one of my favorite things to do. Endurance training has actually increased this because now I wanna do cool shit in cool places! We have multiple trips planned the rest of the year and I have been getting caught up in planning, booking, etc. I can carve deliberate space by making swift decisions and sticking with it, as well as recognizing that I can do some of this cool shit much closer to home, it doesn’t always have to be an epic travel situation multiple times a year.

I need to go off script here For today’s special run, I ran the same route I was doing in prep for Ironman Florida and for Elephant Mountain There are parts of this I love. I know exactly where the 1 mile marker is; I get to run a quarter mile through a park surrounded by mossy trees; there’s a 10 min stretch up through this ritzy neighborhood, leading right to the Ortega Bridge. It’s not special to be honest. It’s really comfortable, and that’s what I’ve been missing lately. The run itself felt really good. Running the same roads that I started almost a year ago. Seeing me run miles in the 9 min range, down to the 8 min range a few months ago, to now the 7 min range today. I got to push when I wanted to. My Hoka Mach 6’s really took flight here after a few weeks of running in my Adidas. Each push felt solid, like I could hold it for the whole run of a 70.3. I actually push this run off a bit. It poured the 30 mins leading into this. I saw a open spot in the sky and took my chances. It was thundering the whole last set of Z3 and Z2. I was really waiting for rain to come, but curious if I was going to miss it. Part of me really wanted to run in the rain though. If the run itself wasn’t meaningful, the rain was. Something about running in the rain feels like home. And that’s when it started. I was 4:30 mins deep into my last Z3 session and all of a sudden the rain starts pouring. With 30 seconds left, I start to push. Then the 30 seconds happen.. and I keep pushing Screw the cool down. I freaking need this It’s cool. The rain feels amazing. It felt like I got to release everything The freaking move to CO My family constantly pushing me to stay The constant annoyance of never feeling rooted anywhere The feeling after always cutting relationships off to chase what I desire I got to let it all go for 5 freaking minutes It’s like the sky was crying for me, and I got to embrace who I am and push all that I had left back home in this pouring rain - Glasses fogged up — can’t even see - Shoes soaked with puddles - HR rising well past my threshold, but the rain makes me not even care

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1e6X55osS6XX7TYdWFPvy27IfG5eZXMn9xwmR_rjsikM/edit?usp=sharing