Put In The Work - Endurance
People tell me they hate my hobby. My wife hates it. And I get it—it’s lonely, hard on my body, keeps me away from home for hours, and arguably boring. Yet for hours every week, I still go out and do my hobby of running.
I recently completed the San Francisco Marathon, and as I did it, I thought a lot about why running is so important to me. Running isn’t just a fitness routine; it’s practicing life. Running is a journey of endurance, determination, planning, and community. So, though many people hate my hobby, I hope they have a hobby just like it.
Putting in the Work
A marathon is 26.2 miles. Manhattan is about 13.4 miles long, so imagine starting at the farthest tip of Manhattan, going to the opposite end, and then turning right around and coming back.
To run that distance, you have to work at it for months. I’m sure some fit people could roll out of bed and squeak out a marathon. I ran a marathon with an MMA fighter. The dude is fit and works out regularly. But he never trained for long-distance running. I’m not even a fast runner, and I beat his marathon time by 40 minutes. I didn’t gloat, so he didn’t beat my face for 40 minutes.
If you want to achieve something, you need to put in work. He chose MMA, and I chose marathons. It’s all good.
When I say running is not for fitness, I mean it. If you want to be fit, I don’t think running marathons is the best way to get there. At least from a time perspective, it’s not efficient.
But running is the work. If you can run for miles on end, you’re doing the work. A lot of people will crap out. A lot of people will say this is too hard. A lot of people will say it’s not worth doing. And I get it; I understand and have lived and been stopped by every single objection.
And yet, doing hard things, doing work, is life. Few of us are blessed with a life of idle leisure. And yeah, doing as little work as possible because of bare minimum Mondays is fine. But, putting in work gets you the chance to feel flow, for time to slow down, and feel Mastery:
Work isn't Fulfilling, But It Offers Something Else That's Pretty Good
No Fulfillment to Be Had at Work
I know that when I push past those objections about how hard things are, I feel proud of the work that I put in, and I know it feels better than idleness.
Hit the road now. Do the work. Enjoy your ride. Enjoy your destination.
Part of a four-part series on running as life.