Crossing the Finish Line

Cliff Watson, VP Southern Region, is a member of the Luminant Fossil Generation Senior Leadership Team who has been participating in the AMCA Leadership Development program. One of the advanced skills has been Imaging, the practice of clearly visualizing one’s optimum performance as mental rehearsal to generate FLOW, a state known to significantly enhance overall performance. Cliff has been teaching many of the advanced skills in servant leadership to not only his direct reports but also his family. The story below comes from an inspiring breakthrough with one of his daughters. 

by Cliff and Maddie Watson

Cliff’s thoughts…

My 20 year old daughter Madison (“Maddie”) decided in October 2013 that she wanted to run a half marathon (13.1 miles).  I had run long distance races before and was thrilled that she wanted to move from “spectator” to “participant”.  She decided to run “The Cowtown Half Marathon”, scheduled for the following February.  She located a training schedule and started the process.

Madison is a college student and lives away from home.  Although she was faithful to start the training process on her own, we started running together while she was home for Christmas break.  We enjoyed training as a pair and decided to run the half marathon together.

Our weekly running schedule included progressively longer runs on Saturdays.  The furthest distance Maddie had previously run was 10k (6.2 miles), so anything longer than that was a new experience.  The difficulty of running longer distances was compounded following a seasonal illness that affected her breathing.  A couple of miles into the six mile run she started slowing down and then started walking.  When I checked on her, I saw that she was crying.  She told me to go on and that she would find her way home.  I told her we were in this thing together and I would go at whatever pace she could stand.  As we continued the run-walk-cry pace that day, I asked her to envision the two of us crossing the finish line at the Cowtown Half Marathon… holding hands… arms raised high.  I wasn’t sure she was listening, as I received little response.

Maddie recovered from the illness, but encountered other obstacles along the way including bitter cold training days and a knee injury.  We incorporated stops in each long run to allow her to rest and stretch.  With each obstacle, I tried to encourage her to again, envision the two of us crossing the finish line at the Cowtown Half Marathon… holding hands… arms raised high.  I still didn’t receive the response I was hoping for, but at least she was still running.

At last, race day came.  As was typical for our long training runs, we agreed to stop at mile six to stretch and take a water break, plus more frequently if she needed to.  Our measure of success was to finish the race together, but not worry about how long it would take.

As we approached the midway point, Maddie told me she didn’t want to stop.  I was quite surprised and asked her why not.  Her response absolutely made my day.  She responded, “I just keep thinking about us crossing the finish line… holding hands… arms raised high!”

We finished the race that day.  It was a milestone day for me personally in that I was able to experience, first-hand, my daughter’s fulfillment of a goal.  The picture was much broader, however.  I realized that she had, after all, grasped the imaging challenge I had tried to encourage her with.  From a father’s perspective, it was a tremendous encouragement to know that she had listened to and embraced this important life lesson of holding a vivid picture of desire in her mind and then finding a way to create it successfully; a practice she will be able to use in any area of life which she encounters.

Maddie’s thoughts…

Ever since I was a little girl, my family has had the motto, “Watson’s aren’t whiners or quitters.” As that motto has been engraved in my brain through the years, I have persevered and attempted to be joyful through whatever comes my way. Training for this half-marathon, however, tested me to the core on the motto, which has become a value of mine. There were countless times that I wanted to quit training, or whine about my knee or illness or weather (which I’m sure I did whine at times). But my dad was there every step of the way encouraging me and holding me accountable. I had to learn to truly persevere.

Another quote that my Dad often uses is to “Begin with the end in mind”. Countless times, my dad would unknowingly encourage me with that simple statement. The journey is not always a fun, easy-going ride, it is not always enjoyable. However, reaching the final destination makes everything so worth it. In my case, training through freezing weather, bronchitis, allergies, blisters, and a knee injury was not fun, but crossing the finish line on race day, hand-in-hand with my dad made everything so worth it. I would envision crossing the finish line with him when I didn’t want to run anymore, and when I wanted to quit training, and that vision kept me going. Sometimes, when I really really wanted to quit, I would envision what race-day would be like with me on the sidelines as a spectator, I knew that I would be so disappointed in myself for leaving my dad to train and run by himself. I did not want to do that to him.

I learned to always begin whatever journey I embark on with the end in mind. The end is the vision. The end is the reward.