This one virtue I want to embrace fully

If you follow me, you’d know — running is my passion. Two years ago I started to run more. I achieved perfect consistency in my habit of running. I recently ran a sub-2.50-hour marathon in California.

I set my personal best but it wasn’t an easy race. A marathon isn’t supposed to be easy. But this particular one was more difficult than my previous races. Not a single mile felt easy; not the first one, not the last, not in the middle. I really had to grind for it, every mile. And that’s what made this race so special. It wasn’t a perfect day or a perfect race. Not a single mile was easy. I really really had to grind for it (I know I’m repeating myself!). I had to stay extra humble. I didn’t think much about the finish line. I wasn’t sure how it’d get to it, if I’d get to it.

Not every run is a race. In fact, the vast majority of my runs are not races. But the mindset is the same: mile after mile I keep going. Sometimes slow, sometimes fast. Even my fast training sessions often feel slow in their spirit: my mind blank, focusing only on the lap or mile at hand.

Grinding for it. Staying humble.

That’s close to what I’m about to talk about but there is a more precise quality I have in mind.

When I’m busy or focused on something and my wife or my children come to me with a question…

When I myself want or expect something from someone…