In just a little more than two decades, Jeff Runyan has competed in about 50 marathons and triathlons throughout the country, from New Mexico to Missouri, Tennessee to Kansas. Runyan, the 41-year-old owner of Runyan Capital Advisors in Beverly Hills, said he relishes the discipline required to train for such events.
“I may not be the fastest racer, but I’m usually pretty strong, performing at the same speed for a long, sustained period of time,” he said.
Runyan returned last month from the Island House three-day triathlon in the Bahamas, an invitation-only event. After two days of racing solo, he (along with nine other chief executives) were paired up with professional triathletes – many of them former Olympians – to compete for a cash prize. Runyan’s team won and they donated their $5,000 purse to charity.
Runyan’s pre-race ritual includes fueling up with oatmeal or peanut butter and jelly on a bagel, and then listening to music to help focus, anything from Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” to “All the Way Up” by Fat Joe. Training for these events requires discipline and commitment, said Runyan, and this concentration spills over into his business life as well.
Because triathlons are a solo sport, he often does his best thinking about 20 minutes into the competition, when he hits a stride and begins to zone out.
“All of a sudden you get a lot of clarity and lucidity,” he said. “That is when my best ideas come out.”
Hitting Trail
Karen Murphy O’Brien, co-founder and chief executive of West L.A.’s Murphy O’Brien Public Relations, will often hike with friends or her husband, Brett, co-founder of Murphy O’Brien. But the hikes rarely lasted for more than three miles, until the weekend of Nov. 12. That’s when she hiked 30 miles in three days, as part of boot camp program Ranch 4.0 at the Four Seasons Westlake Village.
“It was the most I’d ever done and I was super proud,” she said. “The reason I did that was I wanted to challenge myself.”
Karen Murphy O’Brien said after hiking 10 miles the first day and not feeling sore she realized she’d be able to take on the additional 20 miles. She also did a 10-mile hike on the weekend before Thanksgiving.
“I just wanted to see if I could do it,” she said. “And now I know I can.”
Staff reporters Hayley Fox and Subrina Hudson contributed to this column. Page 3 is compiled by Editor Jonathan Diamond. He can be reached at [email protected].