Slow And Steady

As of today I have a backlog of 49 draft posts going back to 2017. A good chunk of this backlog, especially recently, centers around themes of maintenance, longevity, sustainability, and generally making sure that work outlasts oneself in some form or another. It’s obviously something on my mind.

So when I sit down to write, why do I most often start with something new instead of picking up an old draft? I suspect it has to do with a fresh take being more motivating. For today, that motivation was my completion of the La Jolla Half Marathon. It’s a race I’ve run before, though it’s been six years.

What’s the relevance to the theme that I mentioned earlier? It’s not only that I am still able to run it despite being in my mid-40s, but that I beat my prior time by over 10 minutes (today’s result was 1:56:05). Which means my years of running have created the kind of habits that enable successful long runs with little to no additional preparation (I only signed up for this race three weeks ago, and thus didn’t have much margin to do a ramp-up beyond my normal weekly miles).

Similarly, while I don’t code every single day (nor should I, it’s not the focus of my current role), I aim to do enough programming regularly so that I’m ready to do more if a situation calls for it.

There’s probably also something to learn here about the long-term benefits of keeping systems running that are doing their jobs as designed and continue to provide value, versus continually looking to replatform and rebuild.

In short: maintenance matters.