One of my usual afternoon walking routes includes about three miles of a tree shaded rail trail in West Concord, MA.  Some portions of the three miles are protected by white pine trees; other portions by mixes of oaks and maples and beech trees. In the Fall, the trail is covered either by pine needles or fallen leaves. Very pretty in the afternoon sun.  And, I like this particular route because it’s QUIET, away from leaf blowers and lawn mowers and cars.  The walks are my “moving meditation” time.

Generally, I’ll wave to and smile toward people that pass me – cyclists, walkers, and runners. And  I watch critically the people who run past me, checking out their form. Are their heads up, are their shoulders back, are they balanced through the hips, are their foot strikes even and “front of foot” or “mid-foot”?

“Why this fascination?”, you might ask.  Well, in earlier years, I ran quite a bit and my form wasn’t good.  In more recent years, I’ve experienced some consequences of that poor form. Also, on a sunny, quiet afternoon out on the trail, there are only a few things more irritating than the sound of poor-form runners passing me from behind – “blump, FLAP, blump, FLAP, blump, FLAP, blump, FLAP” – as their feet strike the ground.

What I find particularly interesting is that many of these “blump FLAP” runners don’t seem like beginners; they seem pretty experienced. Typically, they’re middle aged – I’d guess between 40 years old and 55 years old – although quite a few of them are younger. They look  v e r y   serious as they run by.

But, just because they look serious and they’ve done it a lot doesn’t mean that they’re doing it right.  Maybe they ran with good form at some point and they’ve now developed sloppy habits. And I ask myself, about them, “Have you looked at yourself recently? Or, have you had anybody watch you run and offer you feedback? You’re hurting yourself and you’re terrifying the chipmunks!”

Nick Miller and Clarity train banks and bankers to attract and develop deeper relationships with small businesses. Many more Sales Thoughts like this and a host of other articles and resources at https://clarityadvantage.com/knowledge-center/