Every terrible marathon has a moment when the unimaginable, taboo prospect of quitting out begins to consume my thoughts.
It usually occurs when I have to run noticeably harder simply to go slower, which is when my body starts to malfunction. Everything hurts. It seems like the entire race has failed miserably. However, there’s one reason I never give up.
I could provide them with the information they desire. I could say to them, “You simply never give up.” You persevere through it no matter how difficult things get. That’d be a component of it. This lesson was ingrained in me as a runner from the very beginning. When I was a college student, I quit a 10k, and someone I admired gave the same message: barring injury, never, ever pull out of the race, no matter how awful it’s going or how much you feel like it’s a failure.
I’ve completed ten marathons in all. In six of them, I have completed eight of them in less than three hours, and in two of them, I have given up. I’ll explain why I pulled out of the two marathons in more detail later, but on both occasions, I didn’t feel like a failure or that I detested myself at all; rather, on one of them, my day got much worse due to logistical issues.
Particularly challenging is quitting a marathon; it provides a powerful lesson to one of the main forces behind significant decisions and actions made by people, a lesson that defies motivational sayings and films that appear everywhere.
The primary reason I don’t drop out isn’t because I’m noble, resilient, or of resilience. Ultimately, it may appear tough if I complete a marathon in nearly excruciating pain and maintain a heart rate in the 190s for more than 20 miles, but being strong, honorable, or a source of inspiration is not what drives me most.
Because dropping out of a marathon is so inconvenient, it can be really difficult.
I’ve definitely had strong sentiments and strong thoughts about quitting at least four or five of the marathons I’ve run. My pain threshold is really high, and my heart rate is in the upper 190s. My objective has eluded me and is now unattainable. It seems like every mile, I’m passing five or 10 people.
