As we mentioned a few months back, our very own Jason Lippman has been training for the North Face Ultra-Trail Du Mont-Blanc (UTMB), a 166km ultramarathon through the Alps across France, Italy and Switzerland. After months of preparation, Jason jetted off to Europe in late August to achieve this tremendous goal.
The 46-hour race forces runners to be semi self-sufficient, running through difficult weather conditions and extreme terrains – so extreme that some participants are pushed to the limit and actually break off from the race in hopes of completing at a later date. Jason was not one of these runners; in fact, not only did he finish the race, he finished it in a mere 33 hours, placing in 190th place out of 2,600 starters. Wow.
As expected, the race had its fair share of challenges. With limited food options and absolutely no sleep, it’s no surprise why Jason felt that focusing on the end goal and maintaining his emotions were two of the biggest difficulties he faced on the trail. However, he pushed through – staying focused and persevering during one of the most demanding races of his life. As Jason points out, many of the lessons he learned during the UTMB apply directly to business, particularly those about not getting discouraged by small setbacks. And even though sitting in an office is a vastly different experience than jogging through mountains, the takeaways remain strikingly similar.
The Ultra-Trail Du Mont-Blanc was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for Jason, but he doesn’t rule out completing it again. After all, if there’s one thing we’ve learned from him, it’s that we should never be afraid to set bigger and better goals.
Way to unleash potential, Jason.
Check out photos of Jason’s race HERE.
