According to legend, a Greek soldier named Pheidippides ran 26 miles from the battlefield near the town of Marathon to Athens in 490 BCE, carrying the news of the Greek victory over the Persians. Upon arriving in Athens, he is said to have exclaimed, “We have won!”, before collapsing and dying from exhaustion. Since 1896, the marathon has been a part of the Olympics and, today, millions of runners participate in these 42 Km runs around the world.
It is said about the marathon that “ You run the first half with your legs, the second half with your mind”. I am personally not a distance runner but have always been fascinated with the marathoner mindset and its applicability to so many facets of life.
Take pacing yourself, for instance, through life. Marathoners are trained to think in terms of the long game, knowing results will come slowly but steadily. Similarly, both human lives and careers are marathons and not sprints. Just as marathoners need to ensure they don’t burn out in the first 10 km, we need to make sure we pace ourselves to live our lives with the energy required to cover a long distance.
A marathoner cannot complete their race without good health, discipline, resilience, positivity and self-motivation.
Similarly, unless we invest in our health, we aren’t going to be fit enough to run the race of life. Your health, in fact, is going to be your most valuable investment.
Marathoners rely on discipline. They show up, rain or shine, sticking to the routine because discipline sustains what motivation starts. Similarly in our lives, often our goals require us to have that discipline and focus, day in and day out. In fact, it’s safe to say, no big goal is achieved without discipline.
For marathoners, the real race begins when the body wants to quit. They learn to embrace discomfort and to push through pain and doubt. Similarly, unless we have the resilience to face adversity, fail, but still get up, brush ourselves off and continue to determinedly pursue the goals we set for ourselves, we aren’t going to achieve these goals.
The marathoner knows the race is going to be tough even though they have spent time preparing for it. Marathoners go into the race believing they are going to cover the distance, whether it’s hot or rainy or they develop a cramp or their body hurts. It’s that positivity that we need to learn from as we go through our lives. Because, unless we believe something can happen, it won’t!
Coaches around the world bring out the best in those they train. But, unless the person being coached has self-motivation, nothing can be achieved. Similarly, we should not have to look externally for motivation but instead, need to look within. Having self-motivation is what gets those legs pumping when your mind is asking you to stop.
So, like me, even if you don’t run the marathon, do stop a minute to marvel at all the marathoners, their amazing mindset and to see the parallels in our daily life.
