Berlin Marathon - 2:34

My Journey in Endurance Sports

Last Sunday I ran the Berlin Marathon in 2:34, being in the top 0.8% of participants (more than 50.000 athletes) in one (if not the most) prestigious marathons in the world.?

In life, lots of people emulate the end results and not the process. But few want to put in the hours and effort. We all see and praise results, but not many want to talk about what took to achieve that. What mistakes, learnings, and hundreds if not thousands of hours of training and development.?

For Berlin, was the first time that I was committed to training properly for a Marathon, I ran around 2.200 km in about 5 months. That is basically the distance between Rotterdam and Gibraltar. It's crazy when we put things in perspective.?

I’ve been pursuing endurance sports for years now. Endurance is one of my favourite words. Endurance is the ability to withstand hardship or adversity.?

I used to have a different relationship with sports. For many years I thought about sports as a sacrifice. A sacrifice of not being able to go out at night, party, or eat fast food every day. After 5 years of doing triathlons and my last race in the half ironman world championship, I decided to take a 6-month break without sports. I was not enjoying training anymore, and it felt like a job rather than something that I was passionate about. After that time I realized that I didn’t really like myself when I was not doing sports, and actually thinking about sports as a sacrifice couldn't be further away from my truth.?

I've found that the phrase I was searching for is "life choices." Engaging in sports has granted me numerous life choices that I truly appreciate and that bring me greater joy. These choices include maintaining a healthy diet, feeling physically robust, chasing after my most ambitious dreams, and so much more. It seems that everything in my life improves when I participate in sports. I can establish healthier routines and focus on honing various skills.

Sports is not just physical,? it is being challenged physically, it has a massive mental component. Sports is not brute work. It's developing emotional intelligence, understanding your passions and your desire to quit. Those things are applicable in your daily life, in your personal and professional life, and in your intellectual pursuits

I have recently been thinking about why I’m so fascinated with endurance sports. Why??

It helps me build the person I want to be. Let me share some things that running has helped me develop, and for some reason, it really aligns with stoicism. Which provides a philosophical framework for living a life of wisdom, virtue, and resilience, while emphasizing the importance of inner tranquillity and acceptance of the external world as it is.

Discipline is one of the highest forms of self-love. It's telling yourself that you will delay constant gratification and comfort for better things to come in the future. It's how you manage yourself in the face of adversity, how you talk to yourself, and what you are willing to do to create the version of yourself that you can admire the most. It's probably the hardest, yet the most rewarding thing you can do.?

“If you are undisciplined you are a slave to your moods, you are a slave to your passions” - Eliud Kipchoge.?

Km 0 - There I was in the starting block A, where the faster runners start, standing a few meters behind Kipchoge (the GOAT, 2 time gold medalist and world record holder in marathon). Really nervous and a bit afraid (not sure about what), maybe I knew how much pain I was going to go through in the next couple of hours. But I was happy with a smile and feeling grateful to be in one of the biggest world stages of running.?

3, 2, 1 gun goes.?

Brutally honest with myself. Who are you when no one is watching? It’s not easy, don’t get me wrong. But have you noticed how many times is easier to promise things to others rather than ourselves? How we say we are going to do things but then we don’t. That’s why I don’t believe in motivation. Motivation is acting on emotions, and in order to keep improving, relying on emotions probably wont help you in the long run. Discipline and keeping yourself accountable makes all the difference. Create habits that you can sustain and improve little by little. Baby steps. Compound effect is simply the principle where small consistencies eventually grow into exponential results. If you have 1 penny and you double it after a day, you will have 2 pennies, next day 4. After 30 days your penny would be 5.3 million. Baby-step improvements and time is all you need. But don’t lie to yourself.?

If I told you that I feel like running after a long day at work, or waking up early and getting into ice baths every morning is easy I would be lying. But what I can tell you is that I’ve never regretted training afterwards. Our mind doesn't like discomfort, and that’s why I think that being brutally honest with ourselves is key. Keep yourself accountable and remember who you want to be.?

Km 18 - The first half of a marathon is something that should be easy, but somehow my head was not in the best place. My legs and exertion were performing as they should. Running like a clock at 3:32/km pace. But for some reason, I felt down and in a bad place. I decided to ignore any thoughts and focus on the person that I had in front of me, hoping that something would click. Breathe, just breathe…

Problems and challenges, create opportunities. “The obstacle in the path becomes the path. Never forget, within every obstacle is an opportunity to improve our condition.” (Ryan Holiday).?

I don’t like to complain anymore, I rather think how can I learn from this, where is the angle that I’m not seeing? Where is the opportunity? Worst case scenario I’m going to do something poorly but learn from it. And next time I won’t be starting from 0, I will be starting from experience.?

Something that I truly care about is being there when things don’t go your way. It’s easy to do things when everything is flowing and going your way. But who are you going to be when things go bad, and get hard??

Maintaining proper running form is crucial, and one key aspect people should always remember is to keep their gaze focused ahead. Those are the things that I’m more aware of when I’m running, because it also applies to life. No matter how hard it gets, stick your chest out, keep your head up, and handle it.?

If it’s in your control, learn to control it. If it’s not, you shouldn’t have to worry about it.

Km 40 - Luckily after the half marathon in 1.14 I knew that I was in for a good race, I was feeling strong and my mind switched. Around km 32 I started to feel terrible, my body was shutting down. And my mind was shouting! But I know that the mind is weak, and doesn’t want to evolve. I started thinking “I can’t do it, I can’t do it” and then you agree with yourself. You think that it’s too hard, that it was already too much pain, that you could even pass out. That’s just the mind playing games, it doesn’t want to get better. I silenced those voices and thought the body has more, much more. I’m going to find out.?

Growth mindset - forever a student - Patience .?

It’s not about perfection, it’s about progress. Compound effect is my motto.?

Patience is a quality that not many people have nowadays, and particularly my generation and younger ones. We want everything now.??

When I was a student, the Dean gave us a speech. Something that he said stuck in my head: “The longest route is the shortest way”. Back then I was around 20, and I just thought “What a stupid thing to say” it didn’t make any sense. But every year it makes more sense.?

Now I think in terms of long-term vision. Who do I want to be? What do I need in order to build that version of myself? What do I need to learn and master?

I think we are not wired to think in the long term. But if all you do is make tiny changes and habits in your life that bring you joy, and purpose and make yourself the person you want to be. You do that for 5-10 years straight and I ensure that your life is going to be different, and I can promise you that.?

Km 42. The last 200 meters of the race, my face couldn’t express anything different than pain. I ran through the Branderburger Tor, and before the race, I pictured in a romantic way, almost like I was going be able to hear Ode to Joy from Beethoven. Couldn’t be further from that. My heart rate was 183 bpm, and I was thinking come on, it’s almost done. Can you take the next step? Good, just another one. (I repeated that many times). Last few meters I looked up and smiled, absolutely proud of myself knowing that I did not have 1 more meter in my body. I went down to the floor and I told myself, you did it, crazy man, you won. You vs you.?

Ambition -? If you tell me that I can't do something, you lose me. I will stop listening and I will not follow you or take any of your advice. I can manage people telling me that I won’t be able to do things (now). Show me the way, I can manage the work and years. Always surround yourself with people that you can learn from, that are faster and stronger than you. I know that where I want to go is probably 5-10 years of hard and consistent work. And I’m ok with that. I’m not here to prove anyone wrong, I will prove myself right which is something completely different.?

So, why??

Why not see the best version of myself and push whatever thought it was imaginable? I have this gut feeling that I’m not able to connect now, but I will connect these dots in the future. I’m sure. In the meantime, I will be developing myself to find what’s possible.

So get out there, and do what you thought was crazy, what people told you couldn't do.

So let’s flip the question: Why not? I have crazy plans, and goals that wouldn’t fit in limited minds. If I told people probably they would laugh. I don’t mind. I will be working in silence, learning and improving. Now is the time to take all those experiences and learnings from Berlin and do it all again.. London Marathon, I’m coming. Grit, passion and Ikigai.?

Thanks to my wife, family, friends, and coach for all the support. This would be impossible without my team!

“To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift”

- Steve Prefontaine.