Many years ago when I was a freshman in high school, I tried out for the cross country team.

At one of our first races, I remember giving it everything I had in the final sprint for the finish line. Making it through the chute and coming out on the other side, I bent over with hands on my knees gasping for air.

Still feeling nauseous and seeing stars in the corners of my eyes, I felt two sets of hands on either side of me patting me on the back telling me what a great race I had run finishing first out of all the runners in our school. I quickly realized the two people congratulating me were none other than seniors Mindy Star and Amy Feeny.

“Wow!”, I thought. These two senior girls are over here checking me out and then …

“BLAAAGHK,” I threw up all over their shoes and they backed away in disgust.

Having learned their lesson and evidently sharing that knowledge with every girl on the team, I didn’t receive many pats on the back following later races. This was probably a good thing since I began puking after nearly every race in high school.

The next year during our conference race I started the race hard and was keeping up with an upperclassman, who was a much better runner than I was. Sure enough around the end of mile one, he surged and I lost him in the crowd. At the half way point, I looked over and saw him standing to the side doubled over heaving.

I thought for sure I was going to beating him, which had been my goal all season long.

As I rounded the last corner with a half mile to go, he came around my outside shoulder, passed me and beat me, earning a place in the state competition. I missed out on qualifying.

That’s when I realized that puking didn’t have to be for the end of the race. It was possible to run so hard that you puke, then run some more.

In business we get the idea of “run til you puke, then run some more.” It’s what successful entrepreneurs do each and every day. You get up, you work hard. You go home and often keep working into the night only to repeat this six to seven days a week.

Craig Horwedel, of Colorado Springs Marble and Granite located on 1010 Transit Drive, understands this as well as anyone. His company was significantly affected by the shift in the housing market over the past several years. But, despite the shift in the economy that hurt all home building trades, Horwedel decided to keep running and not give up.

“Both sales and profitability dipped,” said Craig. “Not only did our sales volume decrease because people weren’t buying or remodeling houses, but the competition became more fierce and we had to cut profit margins to try and compete,” he concluded.

When asked why he didn’t just close the doors and quit, Craig said, “I have 30 employees and I feel that I owe it these people. They take pride in their work, and they work hard, so I owe it to them to make right decisions.”

Colorado Springs Marble and Granite is now on the mend, and Craig is confident things will continue to get better for his company.

While I believe Craig Horwedel’s story is an incredible one, I recognize it isn’t a unique story. As businesses begin to rise from the ashes, entrepreneurs with the mentality that they can keep going, no matter what will keep running, even after they’ve puked once or twice during the race.

The lesson I learned by getting beat by the runner who beat me even after puking stayed with me, and that following summer as I ran a five mile road race I was neck and neck with two other runners for the last two miles. With about half a mile to go, I decided to surge and told myself I was going to beat them both. One man, a taller dark haired guy, was ahead of me by two strides.

The other, a stockier guy was just behind me. I moved around the outside of the taller man and began to pass him. As I went around him, pushing with all I had, only a quarter mile left, the stocky guy behind me came around my outside and I dug even deeper not wanting let him pass me. Suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, I puked… all over the back of the stocky guy’s shoe.

I slowed, trying to catch my breath while heaving through the next few steps. Having never before done this before I finished, my only thought was, I have to keep running and finish. So I started sprinting for the finish line again.

I didn’t manage to beat the tall guy, probably because he was afraid I’d get some on his shoe next, but did manage to beat the stocky, partially vomit covered man. So, I guess I came out okay after I “ran some more.”

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