What I learned in my first 3-hour marathon attempt
On November 19, 2023, I ran the Philadelphia Marathon with about 15,000 other runners. It was a beautiful sunny day and the route was chock full of spectators, family and friends. For me, this was a culmination of about 10 months of training and my first attempt at breaking the 3-hour mark in the marathon. I learned a lot of valuable lessons over the course of this training block, many of which, only slightly abstracted, apply to other endeavors like team and company leadership. So I thought I’d share them here.
Goal setting is an essential skill: picking a 3-hour goal was somewhat arbitrary. But once I picked it, it was extremely clarifying and a powerful motivator. I started in early January with a fitness level of about a 4-hour marathon. After almost 2000 miles of training, milestone PRs along the way, and seeing progress week after week, I showed up on race day in shape to truly attempt to break 3-hours. Setting clear, ambitious, goals as a team can be clarifying and create cohesion and motivation.
Understanding the journey through narrative: as I trained, ran tune-up 5Ks, 10Ks and half-marathons, and kept my eye on the 3-hour goal, it was helpful to know where in the journey I stood. Especially during setbacks, knowing that I was on a journey, where each mile would build on the last and set me up to attempt my goal was critical. It gave me the faith to keep showing up for every training run and race. This applies to work teams too. Understanding where you are in a project, and that every step builds towards the end goal, can be motivating.
Mental fitness is a critical part of leveling up in any skill: in this case it was running, but in a professional context it might be a new technical skill, a bigger project, a new area of ownership; wherever there’s up-skilling happening, building confidence and resilience will be necessary. And this fitness compounds. The more you show up and try the more you’ll want to. Under valuing mental fitness (confidence, tenacity, mindfulness, etc) can be a misstep when you’re aiming high.
No big goal is achieved alone: from my running coach, to my local neighborhood run club, to YouTubers / TikTokers / Redditors who have provided guidance online, to the strangers on the course on race days, I’m indebted to dozens of people who helped me this year. The same is true in professional contexts. Very few big goals happen without input, guidance and advice from the community you build along the way. Thoughtfully building your community is critical to achieving big goals.
After starting on pace for 20-miles and feeling great, I experienced heavy cramping in my legs for the last 6 miles. I think I just didn’t have enough salt in my system. I hobbled through the finish in 3 hours and 20 minutes, well short of my goal. All the confidence I built in the first 20 miles, the lessons I learned over this training block, and the clarifying discipline of setting and working on a big goal are more than enough to make up for this first miss. And the pride I feel for making it through those last 6 miles will be an important reminder to myself, too, about my own mental fitness.
After some rest and recovery, I look forward to putting another race on the calendar, remembering these lessons about ambition, resilience and community. And to putting in the miles before arriving at the next starting line.