How running a marathon will help you achieve your ambitious goals.
You may be skeptical.
How can running 26.2 miles help me do (BLANK)?
Well (BLANK) is going to seem a lot easier after you run a marathon.
A marathon seems impossible now. In your head, you have a list of impossible things. A marathon may be one of those things: along with forming a band, starting a business, getting your dream job, finding love, etc. Once you realize running a marathon is possible you will have to rethink everything you ever thought was impossible. I ran a marathon and it changed how I thought about what is possible.
Marcus Aurelius said,
“Do not think that what is hard for you to master is humanly impossible; and if it is humanly possible, consider it to be within your reach.”
So you want to be a runner?
I remember the fall of 2013.
I was sitting in the chapel at Olivet Nazarene University. A representative from World Vision came to encourage students to run the Chicago Marathon. I thought the dude was crazy. I’m not running a marathon. At that point in my life, my longest run was 6 miles. I ran to Dairy Queen and back. And I’m not sure the last three miles counted. I walked.
I’m 6’4” and weigh 240 pounds, I’m not supposed to run. I don’t look like a runner, ergo I shouldn’t run. Open and shut case.
I studied screenwriting in college. One of my professors asked if there were in runners in class? We had one. And it wasn’t me. He said what a shame.
Writing a screenplay is a lot like running a marathon. If you can run a marathon, you can write a screenplay. You have to keep going when there is nothing left.
I still had no intentions of running a marathon, but this nugget of truth stuck with me.
Chicago in 2016
The community was very different than where I grew up in Indiana and south suburbs of Chicago. Chicagoans are more competitive. It is part of the grind. Work over 40 hours. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps and get ahead. You know all that nonsense.
Even my roommate was someone who jumped on this work until your hands bleed mentality. And in 2016 he ran Chicago Marathon with World Vision. I asked why are you running? He told me he liked the community of runners. He enjoyed getting breakfast after the long run and talking about splits. What??? I still didn’t get it.
Spring of 2017
I was in the middle of a rough break up. My job blew. And I really needed to decompress. I listened to a podcast about a runner who was morbidly obese. In the podcast, he said his doctor told him he needed to make a change or he was going to die. After his doctor grilled him, he put on his sneakers and went for one of those long To-Hell-With-You runs. Without any training, he ran 17 miles in 5.5 hours.
So I did the same thing. I hadn’t run more than a few miles in years. I laced up my Nike Pegasus’s in 22-degree weather and slogged out mile after mile. I ran 16.4 miles along the Chicago Lakefront. I was running very slow and I was in pain. I was sore and cramping up. I did not have fun running. But I loved the feeling of having just run. Runners know and love this content feeling.
I came home to tell my roommate, and as I laid on the floor in pain from the cramps, he said I looked bad. I told him about the run and he asked me if I wanted to run the 2017 marathon. I said I would do it if he went and got me a Gatorade.
So there I was. Right at the beginning of marathon training for God knows why. The Chicago grind had got me, and I wanted to pull myself up by my bootstraps.
I started thinking about how many people run for fitness and how many of those people had finished a marathon. Here are the facts.
Each year 56 million US citizens will participate in running as a form or fitness. About 17% of the population will go for a run this year. But how many of those will keep at it. How many will dive into the marathon pain cave? According to Marathon Running Schedule,
“Approximately .5% of the US population has run a marathon.”
HALF A PERCENT. There you have it. Run 26.2 miles and you are in a very elite group of people in the United States. I wanted to join this elite group, so I set out and joined World Vision as they trained for the Chicago Marathon.
Its all about the Journey, Not the Destination
Training is everything when it comes to running a marathon. If you want a good PR (personal record) you are going to have to train. You’ll go on some group runs. Usually Saturday or Sunday morning. But most of the miles will need to be put in on your own.
There are lots of different training plans. Do what you can. You won’t check off every run on your schedule. You may not finish every run. You may run fast or slow on certain days. But all the runs are good.
Work as hard as you can. Make friends with people in the group. Ask them about their runs. Get coffee. Do all of the things. These are your people. Your tribe.
Goddamn war zone. I don’t see a marathon.
October 8th, 2017.
It all started so well, but it had turned into a Goddamn war zone.
Miles 1–14, bliss. Then God had turned up the heat on us. I looked at one of the electric signs at a bank where I saw “86 degrees”. Way too damn hot. I was slowing down. I suck in the heat.
Mile 15, I really started to feel like I needed to take a nature break. Running has a certain effect on your digestive system and when you have to go, you have to go. At mile 16, I darted for a port-a-potty around Roosevelt. I felt rejuvenated. Let’s get this horsey back on the wagon. Well, I thought I was rejuvenated. Moments later, I was passed by a man in his 60s or 70s.
Mile 20, this race had turned into a war zone. If you didn’t finish in the first 3 hours, you were impacted by the heat. Time slowed down. Empty Gatorade cups were everywhere — thrown on the concrete like empty shells on Normandy. I heard the sound of multiple ambulances. I saw a dude being carted off a stretcher. I just wanted to go home.
Mile 22, I was in very serious pain. I had no idea what I was doing. I just needed to finish.
Tears of Joy
I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t walk some of this race. There came a point where I was trying not to die. I didn’t even need to finish. I only needed to not die.
Miles 23–25, all walking. And the occasional limping when someone yelled at me to hustle. They would yell. I’d do this half limp/jog combo until they looked away. Then I would walk.
I began to run the last mile. I was stopped intermittently with cramps in both my hamstrings, calves and inner knees. I don’t even know how you get a cramp in your inner knee. Seeing the finish line was magnificent. All I had to do was cross it. What seemed impossible 4 years ago, seemed certain now. I may not have looked like a marathon runner, but in a few seconds, I would join an elite group of people. I would be part of the .5% of US citizens who finished a marathon. While I was taking those last few limps before crossing the finish line everything changed. I realized if you put enough work into something you can finish anything. Finishing matters. It doesn’t have to be pretty or perfect.
Can you keep going when there is nothing left?
Once I crossed the line, I began to cry. They handed me a space blanket and I began to crawl towards the train.
I plopped into a seat where I overheard a young boy talking to his mom about me.
The boy asked, “Mommy, why does he look so bad?”
“He just ran the marathon.”
The boy glared back at me, “I don’t want to run the marathon.”
“Me neither.”
I love this story. It’s not about being pretty. It’s about results. It’s about success on your terms.
If you have trouble finishing things or starting things, maybe a marathon is for you. Its finite proof that you can finish a challenging obstacle. Once you finish a marathon, you will have a new confidence. You’ll learn you can do difficult tasks. You’ll learn you can dive a little deeper into the pain cave when there is nothing left.
