Running on fumes, running for the white house: all in a day's work

This last past weekend, I ran the Chicago Hot Chocolate 15k. It was tough. I'm glad I did it, but not entirely convinced I need to do it again.

The race started at 7 a.m., but I could not sleep the night before, so I was up at like 4 a.m. trying to decide just how many layers were going to be necessary to keep the cold away and keep me dry & safe. 

The conundrum about it all is that this race was my choice. I knew it ran us near the Lake so I knew it was going to be brutally cold. I knew not many people would venture out to withstand the elements only to cheer us on. I knew that my body was not up to peak performance for a PR of any type. I even knew that I had terrific date night plans the night before and I would be fighting the urge to drink a cocktail the whole evening. But I fought through it all and I made it to the finish line. I didn't drink a cocktail the night before, but I did overdress and nearly melted at mile 7. I didn't enjoy the two hour wait line at the expo to pick up my packet, but the hot chocolate at the end of the race was alright. I complained a little in Twitter and I posted more than one Instagram documenting my experiences, but I certainly didn't go overboard in sharing too much on my social channels because I did it for me, after all, and I didn't have to do it in the first place. 

Which is really how I feel about the elections and social media. I wish people would use their voice to do good and make great things happen instead of using their social channels as a way to make other people feel like crap. I fear it sounds trite, but I think as a country, what we need is irrational optimism more than anything else. It's a trait shared by all the great entrepreneurs, but also great world leaders. At the end of the day, people will be people and they will finish their own races as they should. These elective offices will continue to be filled with people who will act as pace setters, but we all know the truth; beauty is in the eye of the beholder and no one but yourself can cross your finish line. During these past few months worth of sometimes heated, sometimes tepid presidential debates, I have unfriended more than one friend on Facebook and unfollowed more than one person in Twitter for content that I found to be offensive in regard to the election. And I'm hard to offend, I pretend. I'm all for sharing information and sharing for the sake of connecting more intimately with people, leaders, organizations and brands that you care about, but using social media channels to spread hatred and squash hope is not the answer. If you need to offend in order to get your point across, perhaps a public channel is not the right place for you to be making a claim? 

All I can say is that I don't care who you vote for. I just want you to campaign for something that makes tomorrow more beautiful than today. Also, please vote for Dove over VS.