We’re approaching the five-borough behemoth that is the New York City Marathon next Sunday, and we’ve discovered that folks who can log 26.2 miles can teach us a thing or two about juggling personal and professional goals. Ahead, training lessons that translate to the boardroom or C-suite.
Daryl Holman Jr.
Holman Jr., 31, who resides in Harlem and is the founder of financial services company Revival Inc., first ran the New York marathon in 2022. He advised other professionals balancing work and training to prioritize creating a healthy and sustainable routine and, if possible, maintaining it after the race.
“Running in the New York marathon was a bucket list item for me, which upended how I would normally plan out my workday, but in a really good way,” said Holman Jr.
While Holman Jr. is the first to admit he put a couple of people through the “ran out of energy on the wrong side of Central Park” meeting delays, he said the training process actually helped him step back from making video calls his go-to for connecting.
“The need to fit in runs helped make taking 15-minute phone calls more of a norm for me versus scrambling to get ready for a Zoom meeting,” he said. More broadly, it showed the entrepreneur how understanding people are toward those prioritizing an active lifestyle while still working to meet professional goals.
It also taught him the importance of respect for challenges.
“I started my training with super early morning runs. I ended up discovering that I just didn’t have the willpower to both get up at dawn, and go log more miles than I had ever done in my life,” he said. “I ended up shifting my workday to start at noon, so I could both fit in weightlifting and the mileage necessary to prepare for race day,” he said.
Chris Lauber
The 36-year-old senior director of operations at Laurent Tourondel Hospitality in New York City is gearing up this year to run his second New York marathon. “I’m planning to run about a dozen or so, until my body stops me,” he said.
Lauber conceded that striking a balance between extremely long workdays and long training runs can be very challenging, especially when you’re running a $20 million company with almost 300 team members.
Lauber stressed the necessity of having a training plan but being willing to bend it (or scrap it) at times.
“Each training run can take two to three hours to complete. That means I need to run during shoulder (off-peak) times, before or after a long workday or surrounding other social plans,” he said.
Lauber also sees parallels between running and the office grind. “I find running to be very similar to a career path. There are curves, ups, downs, times when we’re tired, times we need to push ourselves and times we need to listen to our body and rest,” he said.
Plus, like work, “I may push myself to perform individually, even breaking my own records, but I will stop if another teammate cramps up, or slow down to run alongside someone, if they feel dizzy or off,” he said.
Above all Lauber finds running to be meditative. “The runner’s high that can be achieved after running for an hour or two is really rewarding, and makes many of us more fun to be around after a stressful day at work,” he said, elaborating that he finds himself solving some of his most complicated work challenges during a run. “While my body is in motion, my mind can really focus and process information entirely differently,” he said.
Sergii Pershyn
Pershyn, 36, who is the associate director at Snow Hill, an international strategic communications agency, will be running his second New York marathon next week.
It may not sound pleasant, but Pershyn noted that to boost your mileage you can sometimes run in the morning and evening for so-called “double days.” Since running keeps him focused on performing tasks and gives him endurance, the long training days are worth it.
Pershyn has discovered that running helps in networking. “Many runners are sort of obsessed with running and like to talk about it with others,” he said. “Once at a party, I noticed a guy wearing a sports watch and we started chatting about running while also sharing what we do for work.” The next day, they went for a run together and soon after the man’s company became a client of Pershyn’s firm.
Eleanor Ling
The Brooklyn-based associate communications director at UpSpring, a marketing and p.r. firm, is preparing for her first New York marathon. By week two of training, she was so exhausted that she considered using her lunch break for nap time. But, “You don’t have to be a superhuman,” she said. “Unless you’re aiming to win the marathon, it’s OK to take a day off if your body needs it,” she said. “Just don’t skimp on your weekend long runs!”
Running has helped Ling, 31, put her career into perspective. “It can be so easy to get caught up in day-to-day work stress,” she said. “Sticking to a running schedule has forced me to step away from my computer and physically burn out my excess stress. Whatever might have happened during the day, I always feel better by the time I get back home.”
Ling, who works remotely, said her generation is starting to realize how necessary it is to set personal goals outside your career, despite the juggling — including her wedding last month.
“Sometimes it felt like all three of these endeavors required my full-time attention,” she said. “I’ve had to learn to establish priorities day by day.”
For example, her longest training run of 23 miles was scheduled for her wedding day.
“I moved that one!” she said.
