The pretzel

Anna drew the pretzel too.

The mountains, the finish line, our family. But the fact that my seven-year-old daughter had even remembered the pretzel from the podium got to me. I nearly cried.

Maria Alm

A week earlier, I had won the Hochkönigman. For the fourth time: 2016, 2017, 2018 and now again, seven years later. Just two weeks after 100 miles in Snowdonia.

After that hundred-miler, chasing a course record was hardly the plan. A lap around the Hochkönig, friends, cowbells and that atmosphere in Maria Alm. Back in a place where we love spending our holidays, races or no races.

I had a grin on my face from start to finish. No muscle soreness, mountains ahead, and somehow there it was: win number four. Nine years after the first. I hadn’t quite taken it in yet.

There was a pretzel on the podium.

The week after

Then life moved on. Meetings, deadlines, no time to catch my breath. A quick post. Next thing.

All week, I was back at work. The race was over. The calendar had other things in it.

And then I got Anna’s drawing.

She had taken time over every detail. The mountains, the finish line, our family. What had happened that weekend. I had given it a few photos and a quick post.

The next thing

I have known how much children change my perspective since they were born. The drawing reminded me. The work that week was real. There should have been room for the joy of the race alongside it.

Today, I also take something from this as a business owner. At Smarter Business, finishing one task means there is another waiting. If I only look at what still needs doing, the things that went well get very little attention. So do the people behind them. Especially when I ask others to put in the effort, I feel I should also recognise what they have achieved.

I don’t need a big celebration after every finished job. But I do need that moment to look before moving on. Making room for running and family takes more than organising a calendar.

Anna had taken that moment. At seven. Right down to the pretzel.