The marathon strategy BY XANDRIA OOI

by **Cals** Mon 20 Jan 2014, 01:31

Published: Saturday January 18, 2014 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Saturday January 18, 2014 MYT 11:31:08 AM
The marathon strategy
BY XANDRIA OOI

AT 2pm sharp, the time of our scheduled interview, Chris comes around to the foyer to say hello, suit jacket in hand.
He looks good, maybe even better than the last time I saw him and I tell him so.
He says thank you like it’s a compliment he’s heard before, and probably often, as he’s lost 5kg since training for the New York City Marathon last November; where he finished in 4½ hours and broke his previous record by half an hour.
This is a man who wakes up at 5am in the morning, have a run in the Lake Gardens and heads right to work; showering in the gym before hitting the office.
Six times a week. And that includes Sunday.
Assuming he sleeps by midnight, which he says he does, that’s only five hours of sleep each night.
How do you do it? It’s one question I never tire of asking people who commands the willpower to pull back the covers and swing their legs over the bed before sunrise to exercise.
Chris describes about how difficult it is to wake up on Sundays, especially when he knows he’s running with a group of people who run like the wind.
You know you’re going to be last anyway, he says with an air of resigned acceptance. “It’s so tempting to have a lie-in.”
At this point of, I am rooting for him to snuggle deeper under the covers, especially next to a wife who happens to be the beautiful Ning Baizura.
But he didn’t. That Sunday, he got up, put on his shoes and went running.
Ning, by the way, is supportive of his running. I called to check. Her exact words to me, with great mirth, “I tell him… go la, go for your run. Go get your abs!”
You still haven’t answered my question, I told him.
How do I do it? Well … he pauses, looking like he too, doesn’t know how he does it. Finally, he shrugs, saying: “Like a bit of a robot I guess. You just keep doing it.”
I’ve always had the notion that people who are motivated and disciplined enough to pursue one thing consistently will have the same dedication towards most, if not all, other areas of their lives.
Why run? I ask Chris.
To punish yourself, he replies promptly, laughing.
“Planning, strategy, thinking ahead.” Sometimes I have my best ideas about business and strategies when I’m running, he adds. “I like endurance and mental part of it, the challenge.”
Since he’s only been running for 3 years and participated in his first marathon in 2011, I’m curious if he’s noticed any correlation between running and work quality.
Workwise, it helps because you’re constantly thinking far ahead, he muses. Especially Sumatec, where he says is quarterly focused.
“Running’s the same thing”, he compares, “especially long-distance. Thinking of the long-term while focusing on the short-term.”
This is the tenth year that Chris, who is British, has been in Malaysia. He talks about having worked off-shore and on the rigs for four years in Indonesia, Venezuela, Columbia, Kazakhstan and the North Sea, whispering in mock relief: “I escaped the Middle East”.
He explains how, for Sumatec, his experiences give an understanding from the ground up and a greater appreciation of what people are going through.
“Do you care if people at work like you?” I ask.
“I care that people like me enough that we can get on together. If we can get on together, we can achieve more. Management by fear isn’t always the best management.”
Then, management by ... what is preferable?
“Management by mutual respect is one. Appreciating that your employees can do the job.”
What if they can’t?
“Then they go.”
People tend to say that nice guys finish last, but Chris is a nice guy, and he doesn’t look like he finishes last anywhere – at work or in a marathon.