Experience

When looking of a job, a question that gets asked is how much experience do we have with this certain job.  Usually, when applying for a managerial position, they require a certain number of years of experience because with experience comes knowledge and understanding of what you're suppose to do.  It doesn't matter where you are in life or what you're going for.  Experience gives you the edge on a lot of things.

To me, my running experience automatically rolls over to the next run.  Each run gives me experience, which constantly accumulates and gives me even more knowledge on running.  The knowledge that I get from that experience is very valuable, and because of that, I occasionally have people asking me about what they should do when they run, or how they can train.  With each individual, the training differs, but with the knowledge I've gained from different kinds of training, I'm able to help those around me.

The most important thing about experience is that it not only helps other people but also yourself.  The experience always keeps me in check and always lets me know if I'm doing something I've done before that didn't end well, or if I'm doing something new.  Experience gives me that foundation that I can logically derive answers from.  Knowing one thing can help me assume another.  It might not be correct, but my personal guesses on the topics of running far exceed random guesses.

Experience is valuable, so don't blow by those experiences, but take your time and take it all in.  The more you put inside, the more valuable that experience is.