LIFE MARATHON ENDS EARLY FOR QUITTERS

 

 

You’ve heard it, I’ve heard it, we’ve both felt it. We’re tired and don’t know why, because a life marathon doesn’t have a finish line.

 

Eating right, getting rest, and still tired. Is it a baby boomer lament, or just the way it is?

 

Maybe it’s time to sit it out for the duration like WWII soldiers who served for ‘the duration.’

 

So go ahead and kick back, let it ride or slide, you’ve earned the right.

 

But there’s a difference between a life marathon and a real marathon.

I finished my one and only real marathon in 3:32. I saw Seaside from the other side. No beach, no ocean, just one step after another.

 

When I told a non-runner my time years later he said, “So, you weren’t really running.”

 

It bothered me that he thought less of the effort because of the time. Well, it wasn’t a world record, or age group record, so maybe he was right?

 

What I wanted to tell him was, “Why don’t you take that 26.2 mile walk. Ride your bike for 26.2 miles. Take a drive for the distance to see how real it is, then consider what it takes to run it.”

 

Instead, I told him he could probably get it done sooner than I did, but we’ll never know. I crossed that finish line and it felt like a real achievement.

 

Life marathon feels the same. One day after another, week by week, months and years pass, but no finish line. At some point who doesn’t ask, “What’s the point?”

 

If running a marathon, walking a marathon, or crawling, is a goal, then it takes preparation. No one decides to run all that way on a spur of the moment impulse. Who jumps off the couch for a marathon?

 

Like a leader of men and women who feel they don’t need to lay the groundwork for the best results, if you don’t brace yourself for the hardships of marathon running, you won’t make it.

 

It takes training and persistence to go the distance. Finishing first for the non-runner means catching a ride when no one is looking. It means starting at the front of the race field because you won’t be there after ten steps.

 

Think of the average mile time for an elite marathoner. They run like the wind and look like a good blow would knock them over. These are skinny people, which is the badge of participation.

 

A big man or woman can run the race of their life, a personal record, but it won’t matter because they don’t finish first, in the top half of runners, or probably not finish at all. The lessons are abundant in a marathon and they apply to the life marathon.

 

Stay on course.

 

Follow the best examples as long as you can.

 

Make the best effort you can manage.

 

I didn’t say, “Follow the rules.” Why? Because marathons and life marathon are all about rules, unspoken rules. Keep running, keep trying, show the work.

 

If you haven’t done the work, don’t run the race. If you decide to check out on the life marathon, who would know you’re a big quitter? No one.

 

But you look in the mirror like everyone else and see what no one sees. You’re not a quitter? Yes you are and it drives you nuts. So instead of strapping on the goals of marathon life, you tap your toe to the beat of different drummer.

 

After searching everywhere possible for motivation, you find the words of a bad example ringing your quitter bell. Pink Floyd’s education song with the lyrics, “We don’t need no education,” takes you off the hook.

 

Repeating things you hear instead of forming coherent thoughts is a relief you’ve been searching for. Now you have time to vilify others for quitting because you’ve been affirmed as a worthy member of the life marathon group by someone who’s never laced up anything themselves.

 

Be honest with yourself. You don’t really want to run a marathon and end up with scabby nipples because you didn’t band-aide up. You don’t want your feet to feel like they’re on fire because you didn’t take the advice and not run in new shoes.

 

A marathon is hard, a life marathon is harder. Why not give credit where it’s due when you see marathon life people who decided to harness their energy in a positive direction?

 

Listen, there’s no shortcut, no excuse to leave the route. Your life marathon is no different than the rest if you stay the course. Once you leave, you’re out of the race.

 

Last impression: In my Seaside marathon I hit the proverbial wall around eighteen miles in. I saw a guy stretching on the ground and decided it might be a good idea, so I stopped and dropped.

 

Turns out the guy on the ground had collapsed. While he got medical attention I crawled over to a stop sign, pulled myself up, and chugged the rest of the way in.

 

Resist the urge to give up, to hand over the hard work to someone else with no idea how hard things get. What do you want the mirror to say back to you when you look into it?