Whats the right distance?

All right, lets admit. Twitter has almost killed writing anything more than 140 characters. The blog that i used to tend to quite often, until couple of years ago has fallen somewhat silent. But what if i wish to say something in more than 140 characters or pithy sentences on facebook? Hence the revival of this blog with this post!

Extend the metaphor, what is the right distance to go? Right size for anything? Rightsize is actually a verb now, and it depends on what ones appetite is and more importantly how much one can endure. When i picked up running in the US, the right distance for me was a 5k. Later in Hyderabad i redefined it to 21.1 km. I am fairly clear that i do not wish to move up to the 42.2 km league - not that it is not possible, but at this stage i feel it is not worth the effort. The same question applied when i moved cities last year. How long does one persevere in overcoming the inevitable initial teething pains?

An idea that is quite liberating and thereby helping one stay the course, is to define the distance or time frame upfront - set expectations with oneself and dont give up so easily. This could apply to a diet, a running regimen, job, a career etc.The following was a tweet few days ago as i was pondering this:

The funny problem with the mindset of a long distance runner is that when you face trouble, you run deeper into it.

  Nice way to end a blog post, by quoting a tweet!