Half Marathon Testimonials

By Michael
Though the race was very personal, it was much bigger than me and more than I could have ever imagined. ”Thanks to everyone and we will see you next year. (I finished in 3:22.)“ —Matt McCurry Director of Inventory Management ...

In January, I issued a challenge to our employees to run a Half Marathon with me. The Dallas-based employees who accepted the challenge ran the Big-D Half Marathon on April 1. The Nashville-based employees ran the Country Music Half Marathon on April 28.
Dragon Slayers

Interestingly, I received some criticism for issuing this challenge. I received an anonymous e-mail from someone outside the company who said, “What in the world has running got to do with work?” Well, the short answer is, “more than you think.”
Dallasrunners

I hoped that those of us who participated would learn five things:

1. That we can achieve more than we think we can.

2. That we can feel better than we ever thought we could.

3. That regular exercise makes us more energetic and productive at work.

4. That teamwork makes it possible to keep going when the going gets tough.

5. That what we’ve learned from running is applicable to other areas of life—including work.

Last week, I invited everyone who finished to tell me how they felt about participating in the training and the event itself. We had over 65 people finish, so I thought I would get a dozen responses. I was overwhelmed. The vast majority of runners wanted to share their experience. As a result, I have included them below in full. (They are listed alphabetically by last name.)

In case you are wondering, we are definitely going to do this again next year. I want to see if we can double the number of participants. I would also like to tie our participation to raising money for a worthy cause.

Also, in case you are wondering, we will recognize all the runners at our All Employee Meeting on May 22. At that time, all those who finished will receive a $100 VISA gift card. (I had originally promised a $100 gift card to the mirror, but the VISA gift card will provide a little more flexibility if you want to do something different.)

If you want to run another race or two between now and then—as I do—the Runner’s World Web site has a great tool called RaceFinder. It basically has every race in the country. You can search by city, state, distance, race type, etc. I am hoping to run another half marathon this fall and then, God willing, the full marathon next spring.

“I just had a total blast. In the weeks leading up to the race, I got to know several employees from other departments, people I’ve passed in the halls but never really interacted with. They were all so encouraging and enthusiastic about conquering a new challenge (for those of us who’ve never done such a long race) or happy to share their wisdom from previous racing experience. On the day of the race, I walked the half marathon with a friend who doesn’t work at Thomas Nelson. Around mile 9, we caught up with Lisa Rollins who brought a new energy to our groove. The three of us stuck together, talking and laughing our way through the end. I was thrilled for my friend to get to experience this part of Thomas Nelson’s culture. I felt so supported by our leadership and my coworkers, so thrilled to enjoy a beautiful day outside, so proud that Nashville is such a fun city, and so grateful for the health to be able to finish strong. Finishing time: about 3 hours and 30 minutes.”