Why ‘Non-Runners’ Run Marathons When They Don’t Enjoy Running
One of the most fascinating things to examine as a mental skills coach is the mindset of someone who doesn’t like to run but chooses to run a marathon. Maybe it makes sense for someone who doesn’t enjoy running to suck it up and run a 5k or 10k to raise money for a cause or to support a friend. But it’s a bit insane when someone who doesn’t enjoy running chooses to run 26.2 miles. Or is it?
Once you understand the mindset of a non-runner who runs a marathon, you find out that it’s not insanity at all. Instead, it’s a metaphorical journey that makes complete sense. Every non-runner who aspires to run a marathon has a different conscious motivation. However, their unconscious motivation is the same. It’s the metaphor of what it means to run a marathon. Setting a difficult goal you believe you have the potential to accomplish, then proving yourself right.
Specifically, everyone unconsciously knows the most important things in life are earned by completing a metaphorical marathon. It’s simply a fact that you can’t sprint from the person you are to the person you want to be. You can try to sprint but sprinting through life is not sustainable. Burn out is inevitable.
There’s just no way to sprint a marathon, real or metaphorical. To get from where you are now to where you know your potential could take you requires time. Time invested wisely into a step-by-step process, with a sustainable pace earned with preparation and consistency.
This is why so many non-runners set goals to run real life marathons. Even though running 26.2 miles doesn’t actually lead them to where they really want to be in life, the physical accomplishment serves as a metaphor to prove to themselves they can do it.