Steve Ziemke Shares What Running Marathons Taught Him About Life
Steve Ziemke may be a senior vice president for Gulf Coast Western, but the busy executive doesn’t learn profound leadership lessons only in the corporate boardroom. Ziemke is an avid outdoors enthusiast and runner who believes in physical fitness and personal growth.
“I’m fairly active,” he says. An avid fanatic of skiing, traveling, camping, and scuba diving, Ziemke is never far from the action. He believes in constant personal improvement and growth, both at work and in his personal life. Every morning, Ziemke prepares himself for the day with a vigorous workout. “Either full-body conditioning, spin class, or swimming laps,” he says. “These activities begin my day and provide a positive mental state and energy throughout the day.”
Steve Ziemke’s other passion? Running. Ziemke believes his experiences participating in marathons and half-marathons on the rugged terrain of the West Coast and in the Rocky Mountains made him a stronger leader and all-around human being. For Ziemke, there’s nothing like setting a goal, achieving it, and moving the goalpost to allow for future growth. “If you don’t have goals and they’re not in front of you and you’re not always tracking them and learning from them, then you’re not on pace to doing the best you could be,” he explains.
Steve Ziemke shares how he trained for several grueling long distance runs and the lessons he learned along the way.
Hood to Coast Relay
Steve Ziemke completed the prestigious Hood to Coast relay race six times. “ The race goes from Mount Hood down to Seaside on the northern coast of Oregon, and it's a team of 12 of us,” Ziemke explains. “It takes about 24 hours to run 196 miles.”
The Hood to Coast bills itself as “the mother of all relays.” This event has taken place outside of Portland, Oregon, for 30 years — and tickets always sell out fast. The Hood to Coast is the most popular running relay race in the world, attracting runners from over 40 countries every year. Participants form teams of 12 runners to complete the roughly 196-mile relay race.
A full day of athleticism would sound daunting to even the most experienced marathon runners, but Ziemke was up for the challenge. Everyone on his team ran a segment before passing off the baton, which taught Ziemke a lot — not only about running and endurance, but the power of teamwork.
For Ziemke, the Hood to Coast event delivered some of the most important lessons. “Teamwork, working together in a crisis, helping each other, and working toward a common goal throughout the Hood-to-Coast relay taught him work and life principles ,” he says.
Pikes Peak Ascent
The Pikes Peak Ascent is a half-marathon (13.3 miles) that stretches from Manitou Springs, Colorado, to the summit of Pikes Peak — one of the tallest points in the Rocky Mountains. It’s one of the most challenging races in the United States, but Ziemke was up for it.
While he’s eager to test his physical limits, Ziemke only believes in taking calculated risks. “Manitou Springs is about 6,300 feet in elevation, and the end of the Ascent is at the summit of Pikes Peak, which is over 14,000 feet, so you're going about 8,000 feet in 13 miles,” he explains. Because of the elevation changes, he knew he needed to train for the grueling mountainous conditions.
To start, Ziemke trained on an incline treadmill to get used to the grade, although it didn’t take long for him to realize it didn’t compare to the real thing. Soon, Ziemke paired up with a couple of other runners to train on the trail itself. “We would start from the base in Manitou Springs and run up to a place called Barr Camp, which is about halfway, and then we'd come back down. On another training day we would drive up to the top of the summit of Pikes Peak and run down to Barr Camp, and then run back up,” Ziemke says.
After weeks of preparation, it was race day. Steve Ziemke marveled at the amazing views but soon found himself hitting a wall. “Once you get above the treeline, there's not as much oxygen there. You're breathing heavy,” he says.
While this taught him a great deal about motivation and persistence, Steve Ziemke enjoyed training for the Pikes Peak Ascent . “A half-marathon with rigorous inclines is so single,” he says. This allowed Ziemke to work toward a specific, focused goal, which taught him the value of milestones. He also learned “persistence, goal achievement, and determination” during his climb up Pikes Peak alongside other runners trying to accomplish the same thing.
Race Completed: How Marathons Shaped Steve Ziemke’s Life
“I used to run a lot when I was training for a marathon, but I don’t run long distances anymore. I’m lucky I still have my knees,,” Ziemke says. “I'll do the treadmill (short stuff) but not long distance.” While he has stopped running long distances to focus more on shorter intervals, Ziemke is grateful for how much his marathon training helped him grow. For him, personal growth comes down to “just getting out there and doing things, making things happen, doing things that maybe are uncomfortable.”
Running a marathon is tough. At mile 20 in one of his marathons Ziemke was struggling, but then something amazing happened. “This person runs by me, and she says, ‘Come on, we only have 10K to go, which is 6 miles.’ It changed my mind and my focus,” he says. Ziemke managed to complete the difficult race thanks to this kind motivation from a stranger.
He might have hung up his distance-running shoes, but Ziemke remembers the lessons learned during his marathon training. He continues to invest in personal growth — albeit with fewer elevation changes — to become the best version of himself.
