Lessons Learned

In 2019, I ran two marathons at the age of 39.

To this point in my life, I don’t think I ever ran more than 10 miles in one run.

For many years, I wanted to run a marathon but never did.

I talked about it but never took action.

I ran consistently, but not to the level that was going to get me ready for 26.2 miles.

Most tried to convince me to run a half-marathon first, but that’s not how my mind works.

I wanted to complete a marathon.

I knew what I needed to do if I was ever going to make this goal a reality, I had to sign up for one.

The only way I was going to hold myself accountable for the training required was signing myself up for a race.

I knew the last thing I wanted to do was sign up for a marathon, show up unprepared, and quit the race.

So that’s what I did, in 2019 I signed up for my first marathon.

The Lessons I Learned from Running Two Marathons

There are lessons everywhere in life.

We will always learn lessons when we take action.

We will always learn lessons when we encounter failure.

The goal in life is to take action as much as possible, fail fast and often, and learn the lessons from your failures to improve.

It’s often our perception of failure and our trauma that trick us into believing failure is a bad thing.

Failure is one of the best things we can do in life and it’s the most powerful way to learn.

I learned many lessons from running two marathons and I’m going to share them with you in the following paragraphs.

Lesson #1: Accountability is a Game Changer

Accountability is powerful.

I had talked for years about running a marathon.

Today, I realize that talking about it fed my ego and made me feel better around other people.

The reality was everything but that.

I didn’t feel good about it on the inside.

I talked about it for so long, but never did anything about it.

I knew what it was going to take to run a marathon, and I was scared.

It was going to take serious dedication, and I didn’t think I had it.

It was going to be lots of early morning runs, weekend runs, and runs in inclement weather.

I knew I had to create accountability if I was ever going to make this dream a reality.

I created this accountability by saying, “fuck it,” and finally signing up for a marathon without having started a training program.

Yes, I just signed up and as soon as I did, it felt real.

It was sink or swim time.

I was either going to show up and put in the work to succeed or take the easy way out and quit.

I knew myself well enough to know that I don’t like failing at anything.

Signing up for the race was going to be the accountability I needed to make sure I stayed focused on the goal.

It worked, I got up every morning rain or shine, whether I felt like it or not, no matter how long the run, and did what I was supposed to do for that day.

When I would struggle with getting up in the morning, I thought about showing up for the race and not being able to complete it because I decided to sleep in one day instead of train.

Find a way to create accountability in your life with whatever goal you’re trying to achieve.

If you don’t have someone to hold you accountable, then find another way.

A financial commitment is one way to create accountability.

For example, if you want to start going to the gym to lose weight and start building muscle, hiring a personal trainer is a great way to create accountability.

If you’re paying for it, then you’re going to show up and take it much more seriously than if you weren’t.

Lesson #2: Discipline and Consistency are a Winning Combination

Running a marathon was going to take both discipline and consistency.

I was going to have to run even when I didn’t feel like running and I was going to have to do this consistently over a long period of time.

I was going to have to develop discipline and consistency to get me through a five-month training cycle.

I don’t know about you, but five months seemed like an eternity for me at the time.

I mean we’re talking about a training plan for running, not the most fun.

Some really cool things happen when you start building discipline and consistency when you’re going after a goal.

I started to notice that every time I showed up and completed that run early in the morning, my confidence started to increase, my self-belief increased, my mental strength increased, and I felt good both physically and mentally overall.

You start to morph into a different person when you do the thing you don’t want to do over a period of time to accomplish a goal.

This is what we were built for, taking on challenges, making our dreams a reality, and just living life.

Here’s the thing about discipline and consistency, you don’t have to take big steps, you can start small.

For example, if you wanted to start running in the morning, you can start out by putting your workout clothes and shoes by your bed every night before you go to bed.

Do that for a week.

After a week of doing that, get up in the morning and put on your workout clothes and shoes, but don’t go running, just put them on.

Do that for a week.

The next week, get dressed in the morning, go outside, walk to the end of your driveway and back.

Continue to build on the previous week’s actions, but don’t miss a morning doing these activities.

This is how you slowly build discipline and consistency in your life.

I stuck to my training plans for both races and it paid off.

I finished the first marathon in five hours and finished the second one in four hours.

Without showing up every day and putting in the work, it would not have been possible.

Lesson #3: Manage Your Expectations

When you’re trying to accomplish a goal or make a dream a reality, it’s always going to be harder than you thought.

You’re going to want to quit a lot along the way, not show up and put in the work, and constantly question what you’re doing.

When making the decision to pursue your goals, you must expect these things to happen.

You’re going to be tested and you’re going to have to choose to keep going or quit.

I wasn’t naive to running.

Prior to running these marathons, I ran on a regular basis not just to the consistency or the volume that it was going to take to run a marathon.

However, I did not expect it to be as difficult as it was.

I can’t count the number of days I woke up at 4 AM and thought about quitting.

I can’t count the number days I tried to convince myself that this was a stupid idea and didn’t need to happen.

It was brutal.

However, the more I fought back, the easier it got to dismiss these thoughts.

Every time I did what I was supposed to do even though I didn’t want to do it, I became stronger.

Pretty soon, I stopped considering the thoughts of quitting and just went running.

It got to a point where I would think about quitting, laugh to myself, say “fuck you,” and have some of my best runs.

Don’t ever shy away from a goal or dream because it’s going to be difficult.

The things worth doing the most in life, the things that are going to make you feel the most alive are going to be the hardest things to do.

You set your goal, and you keep showing up every day whether you feel like it or not.

Expect it to be hard but expect yourself to be even harder.

Lesson #4: If You Want More, You’re Going to Have to Give More

I followed a beginners training plan for my first marathon.

It worked, I accomplished my goal and finished the race well within the cutoff time.

However, going into my second marathon, I wanted to improve my time.

It wasn’t just enough to finish the race, I wanted to see what I could do.

I knew that in order to make this happen, I wasn’t going to be able to follow the same training plan as I did for the first race, I was going to have to do more.

I took that basic plan from the first race and modified it a bit.

I added more mileage overall and increased the number of long runs per week.  

I found out from my first race that getting in those long runs is crucial.

I knew that if I wanted more, I was going to have to give more.

The results were pretty amazing, I went from a 5-hour finish to a 4-hour finish.

I shaved an entire hour off of my marathon time because I added more volume to my training program.

The bigger the goal, the bigger the commitment.

How much are you willing to give in order to make your dream a reality?

Think about this question before you start because it’s going to take a lot to get a lot.

Lesson #5: You’re More Capable Than You Think

When we decide to start taking action towards a goal, we’re going to face adversity.

That first marathon was brutal.

I hit mile 16 and wanted to quit.

I hit a wall, and I hit it hard.

I knew that if I quit, I would regret it for the rest of my life.,

I thought about how heavy that regret would be to carry and kept moving along.

By finishing that marathon, I not only proved to myself that I could do it, but I also proved that I am much more capable than I think if I just keep going.

We often quit way too soon on ourselves before we realize success.

It’s never going to be easy, but the adversity we face along the way is preparing us for the success.

I ran that second marathon with ease and shaved an hour off of my original time.

The lessons I learned from the first one helped me prepare even more for the second one.

We’re way more capable than we think, we just need to give ourselves a chance to go through the adversity, embrace the suffering, and come out victorious.

This is how you build confidence and grit.

This is how you become unstoppable.

Lesson #6: Don’t Settle For Someone Else’s Dream

As I stated in the beginning of this newsletter, many people tried to convince me to start out by running a half-marathon before I tackled the marathon.

That’s not what I wanted.

What they said made sense, but it wasn’t in my plan.

My plan all along was to run a marathon.

You’re going to have dreams and goals.

It’s hard enough to convince yourself to finally take that first step towards your goal.

It’s hard enough to have belief that if you start it’s possible to make it come true.

Don’t ever let someone else talk you out of going for what you want.

I’m eyeing a 100-mile race someday in the near future.

Some say I should start out with a 50-miler, but I think I might pass on that.

Stay positive and take action!

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