The Backstory to My Marathon
It was a slow Wednesday at work and my brain was churning as I brainstormed for new bucket-list experiences I could tackle in my life. Then, the idea hit me. I texted my girlfriend and said Lets go to Disney World and run a Marathon” Within 24 hours, we took a leap of faith and booked our marathon without much consideration. Despite not being runners , we agreed to run this 26.2 mile race. The real question though was why were we doing this? Why was it a bucket list item (apart from seeing Disney)!
Why Run a Marathon?
In March 2019, I traveled to Japan a country where meditation, focus, and mental strength are deeply ingrained in the people and their culture. It was here where I realized how important being in control of your mind is to one’s life. In fact, our entire life is determined by one single thing….our brain. Following that trip, I put an emphasis on mental strength and control and began discussing the importance of this with my girlfriend as well. I told her our life and joy will not come from money, jobs, status or anything else but instead come from our mental strength. We have the ability to determine how happy we want to be because happiness is determined by the mind.
There are many ways to work on mental strength but after witnessing several of my dad’s races, I was well aware of the mental challenge that marathon runners face. My goal to get mentally tougher with my girlfriend and the introduction of marathons through my dad created the perfect storm, and on that boring Wednesday, my brain came up with a new challenge…Run a marathon. A marathon to me was a test of mental endurance and strength even more so than physical. Running 26 miles requires patience, and focus that can be hard to obtain. This to me was a great way to work on mental strength while getting the added bonus of getting physically healthier as well. The idea came into my head and anyone that knows me knows I act quickly on new ideas. Within a day I had sold my girlfriend and we were booked. This was happening.
The Training
Over the next 5 months, we trained. The training wasn’t easy as we had to manage running 3 times a week for long distances and somehow fit that into our daily schedule. There were times where we questioned if this would work, there were times where we questioned if this was too rash, there were times where we wished we could have done this at a different point in life but this was all part of the mental challenge. Cold days, rainy jogs, 15 mile Christmas eve runs, it was all a difficult process that was always tempting to quit on. But quitting wasn’t what we wanted to prove to our self and it was in fact these very challenges that we wanted the discipline to be able to overcome. We had to teach our self to fight through the urges to postpone training when it didn’t suit us and instead focus on making a tedious task something to enjoy. Everything we disliked about the process was in our own heads and it was our job to find a way to change that. Just as our bodies trained and adapted over the 5 month stretch, so were our minds.
The Race
After the long and tedious training process, race day arrived but the challenges didn’t stop; We got unlucky with the warmest and most humid race day on record. Adrenaline and excitement got us through the initial parts of the run but as we logged more miles, and the heat kicked in, smiles turned into faces of pain. At certain points it seemed like our training wasn’t enough and that we would not make it. But we continued to fight through that urge to head to the exit doors.
After almost 6 hours of physical and mental struggles, the finish line was in or sights. Spectators cheered loudly and we knew we had made it. Our faces turned back into smiles and a feeling of accomplishment rushed through the body like no other we had felt before (Known as runners high). We crossed the finish line with our heads held high and looked at each other knowing we had overcome every struggle from learning to run a few miles to handling the extreme heat for 26.2 miles on race day. It was a feeling of joy and pride that yes we were in fact mentally strong enough to endure this long of a process and race. The runners high truly was real and for every ounce of struggle there was double the amount of joy after finishing. A truly great moment that we will never forget.
Was it Worth It?
So now the real question…why should you do this. Apart from forcing yourself to stay fit and healthy, a marathon, as I mentioned, is the ultimate challenge of mental strength. I have seen many of my dad’s races and I was always amazed at how many elderly people were running these races. I am talking people in their late 60’s and 70’s. That in itself was a sign that running the race is not physically impossible. The hardest part is the mental strength to get to it. Committing to running 3 times a week, missing parties to run, getting out in cold (or hot) weather to train, it all requires mental strength.
The best thing about something that is this tough mentally however, is the joy that comes when you overcome it. My girlfriend had never run a mile before doing this and I was not much of runner myself, yet when we crossed that finish line we proved to ourselves that anything is possible if you can handle the ups and downs that come with the process. We proved to our self that the down moments in life can result in extreme joys If you just have the strength to power through it. This was what a marathon is all about. It is about enduring a long and tedious journey in order to reach an ultimate goal. In this process you learn what you are made of and strengthen what you can handle. The feeling when we crossed is close to invincible and a moment no one can ever take away from us.
Adding a Marathon to your bucket list is a way for you to prove to yourself what you really can accomplish in life. It is a way of developing the mental strength to enjoy anything , including running for 26 miles. It is no doubt crazy and tough but nothing good comes without some sacrifice. Go out, improve your physical and mental health, and feel the ultimate exuberance of accomplishing one of life’s ultimate challenges, by completing a marathon once in your life. Trust us when we say this, you will never feel prouder of yourself.
What a great article, good job highlighting the importance of mental strength!!
I feel like running is truly a way to tell your mind and body who’s the boss. Started my training already, will join you guys on the track soon 🙂
Thanks man. I’ll be sure to join you once I’m back