Long considered among the most grueling competitions in sport, the 26.2-mile marathon takes an average of five hours to complete. Though more than 1,000 marathons are held each year in the United States, fewer than 0.5% of the population has ever competed in one. Compared to other top-level sports, marathon prizes tend to be small—$20,000 to $50,000—with most marathon funds instead supporting charity. Marathons also attract older competitors. The average male runner is 41 and the average female is 38.[1] A marathon’s length makes it much less about athletic talent, but rather stamina.
If you want to run your first marathon, you should be consistently running 20-30 miles a week before adding a training track to your already-healthy lifestyle. The great challenge of a marathon is building up the body’s endurance—your ability to continue for long distances consistently, sustaining both a mental and physical tempo. You would think that the youngest runners would be the best at a marathon, but those individuals 30-50 years old tend to be the fastest because, by-and-large, they understand the importance of running at a consistent pace.
About 80% of people who enter a marathon will finish it—but that statistic isn’t really accurate, because marathon organizers “weed out” those who aren’t serious during the registration process. If you haven’t run a number of shorter races, or have a reputation for not finishing other competitions that you’ve entered, marathon organizers will deny you entry. The letters “DNF” indicate those who failed to complete the marathon—your time card will simply say, “DNF”, for Did. Not. Finish. Of those who do not finish, the most common reason given isn’t injury or dehydration or other physical factors, but rather a lack of mental toughness. They lack the grit to push through.[2]
The marathon is a perfect picture of one of life’s great challenges—longevity. Adam Naylor, Ed.D, director and sport psychology coach for Boston University’s Athletic Enhancement Center, comments, “Ultimately, the greatest motivator for all runners in a marathon is the unique sense of accomplishment from persisting with a training regime to completing the 26.2 mile physical and mental challenge.” Life, too, is a physical and mental (and spiritual!) challenge. To go through life well requires preparation and a plan to live it to its greatest benefit. Do you have the grit, the mental toughness, to live the entirety of your life to the fullest, or will you look back over your years and reluctantly conclude of your life—DNF.
The modern definition of longevity is “a long life.” But a practical understanding is a long and sustained quality of life. That is, to live well and consistently for many years. Longevity is not just about surviving to an old age. It is maximizing the years throughout life and its various stages. Longevity is a powerful characteristic for a leader. The stamina to “run life well” means mastering the pace of living, leading, relationships, goals, health and drive along an often-unpredictable course. How is your pace as a leader? Consider…
Running through life too fast. Burnout is common among top-tier leaders. A survey by executive search firm Witt/Kieffer found 79% of executives said burnout is negatively affecting their own workplace.[3]According to a classic article by Harvard Business Review, “People suffering from burnout generally have these identifiable characteristics: (1) chronic fatigue; (2) anger at those making demands; (3) self-criticism for putting up with the demands; (4) cynicism, negativity, and irritability; (5) a sense of being besieged; and (6) hair-trigger display of emotions.”[4]
As a leader, you can simply run the marathon of life too fast. You can push yourself too hard and also push those around you in any unhealthy way. Galatians 6:9 reminds us, “Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.” Scripture is telling us we can be doing the right things but killing ourselves trying to keep it up. This is a caution against chronic fatigue and an overly demanding lifestyle. Do your best, but not at a pace that you lose your fundamental motivation for the good of others and your own good. Longevity means learning the difference between urgency and frenzy.
Question: Are you exhausted on a regular basis? If so, what might you delegate that would help you focus on important things at a slower pace?
Running through life too slowly. Generally slowing down in life is a good thing. Going slowly makes you think more intentionally about decisions. And slowing down lets you savor important moments, relationships, milestones and experiences. But go too slowly and you become lazy. The lazy crowd tends to postpone and procrastinate, place blame, make excuses, and waste the time they have. While doing too much produces stress, doing too little produces a lack of fulfillment and a sour disposition.
The Bible has much to say with respect to laziness. Proverbs 28:19 tells us, “He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.” There is a direct relationship between consistent effort and putting food on the table. Have you ever been around someone who spent their time chasing fantasies? A leader with his head in the clouds will miss the opportunities on the ground in front of him. Longevity means learning to move forward each day with purposeful intent.
Question: What is your goal for today and for this week? If you don’t have one, consider being more specific with your daily and weekly routines.
The key to a marathon—and to life—is pacing. In a marathon, if you run too fast at first, you’ll burn out your energy before the finish. Run too slowly and you won’t finish at all. In life, you can burn out or be a couch potato, each with equally negative consequences. To find success in life and leadership, you must be in it for the long haul. Do you have determination to find a challenging pace that you can stick with, year after year? Here are five important ways to pace your life for longevity:
Live healthy. Bad personal habits destroy longevity by decreasing the length of your life. Poor diet, no exercise, excess alcohol, smoking—all of these lead to a shorter life. Good health foremost is about lengthening the active years of your life. Further, bad health leads to a life of lesser quality.
Health is multifaceted. Pay attention to your weight. Eat a balanced diet. Get regular medical checkups. Drink moderately.[5] Don’t smoke—tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. It causes an incredible one out of five deaths each year, and lessens your life expectancy by an average of 10 years.[6] On a broader front though, a recent study by the National Library of Medicine found that 93% of adults are unhealthy, suffering from a massive pandemic of obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and bad triglycerides.[7] If you are just relatively healthy—not overweight and abstain from smoking and other bad habits—you’ll be in the top 6% of all Americans when it comes to your health. Longevity means living a simply healthy lifestyle.
Questions: Are you unhealthy? When was the last time you had a doctor visit and a complete physical? Are you engaging regularly in unhealthy eating and activity?
Keep an active mind. Research shows that keeping your brain active increases its vitality—its ability to process information, make decisions and remember important matters and events. Physical health increases the flow of oxygen to your brain. For this reason, it’s not surprising that people who are in good physical shape also tend to enjoy a higher level of mental agility.[8]
Mental exercise is just as beneficial. According to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, certain memory training exercises can increase “fluid intelligence,” the ability to reason and solve new problems. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, research shows that keeping your brain active increases its vitality. Doing new things in new ways appears to help retain brain cells and connections. It may even produce new brain cells. In essence, breaking out of your routine can help keep your brain stay healthy. There’s also an acute connection between running and mental health. The Guardian writes:
“A 2018 experiment from West Michigan University… showed that running quickly for half an hour improves ‘cortical flicker frequency’ threshold. This is associated with the ability to better process information. Two others, from the Lithuanian Sports University and Nottingham Trent University, showed that interval running improves aspects of ‘executive function’. This is a suite of mental high-level faculties that include the ability to marshall attention, tune out distractions, switch between tasks and solve problems. Among the young people studied, measurable gains were clear immediately after 10 minutes of interval sprints. They also accumulated after seven weeks of training.”[9]
Rest is also good for the mind—putting your thoughts away from work for a time each day increases the brain’s longevity. The less-dominant side of your brain is the area that controls feelings of self-confidence and optimism. When you think about something other than your daily worries, you increase activity in the neural structures of that area of your brain. Mental exercises such as reading, engaging in humor, and daydreaming, increase mental fitness.
Questions: What are you thinking about today? Have you rested your mind in the last few days through reading or thinking about relaxing ideas? Is there a healthy connection between your physical health and your mental acuteness?
Value relationships above things. Interestingly, sports psychologist Adam Naylor talks about the social aspect of marathons for inexperienced runners: “The experienced runners will think about their body and how it is feeling as they run, trying to gauge their progress as they go. The recreational runners can’t do that however, because if they focus on the pain they’re feeling, they’ll never finish. Instead, those runners are really focusing on the social factor of the race to keep them going, like the cheering crowds and the other runners around them. You can’t stress enough the importance of that social factor. A lot of runners count on that cheering and support to keep them going.”
A study by Emory University and the University of Minnesota found that generally adults who pursued wealth and material possessions as a primary goal were more lonely than their poorer counterparts. “Their results showed that people with higher incomes spent less time socializing, and more time alone, overall. At the same time, for the time that they did spend socializing, higher-income people spent less time with family.”[10]
Lack of social activity decreases longevity. Recent studies found that social isolation significantly increased a person's risk of premature death from all causes, a risk that may rival those of smoking, obesity, and physical inactivity. Social isolation was associated with about a 50% increased risk of dementia. A report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) points out that more than one-third of adults aged 45 and older feel lonely, and nearly one-fourth of adults aged 65 and older are considered to be socially isolated. Older adults are at increased risk for loneliness and social isolation because they are more likely to face factors such as living alone, the loss of family or friends, chronic illness, and hearing loss.[11]
A long, active, fulfilling life contains close and meaningful relationships. John 13:34 says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” God’s intent for us is to have meaningful relationships with each other rather than to isolate ourselves.
Questions: Do you have close friendships outside of your spouse or immediate family? Are you regularly investing time in building meaningful relationships?
Learn to manage stress. Even a well-managed life will have ups, downs and unexpected turns. Stress is the body’s way of reacting to a demanding situation—from the simple responsibilities we face every day to major challenges that can arise unexpectedly. If you don’t manage stress in your life well, it can overtake you. Chronic stress directly contributes to numerous health problems including heart disease, stroke, obesity, depression, and maybe even cancer. Stress can also indirectly worsen disease by influencing lifestyle behaviors such as sleep, physical activity, and eating habits. A recent article in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine emphasizes that over 75% of doctor’s visits are stress-related, highlighting the urgent need to implement healthy stress management.[12]
Matthew 6:34 tells us “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” This Scripture instructs us that we can best manage stress in our lives through focus on the here and now. We know that pratices leading to physical health can help to relieve stress. There’s also a mental component—talking about problems, and engaging in hobbies or enjoyable activities can lessen stress. Here’s another stress reliever: turn off the news and stay away from social media. Today’s constant churn of what others are thinking or doing, and the minute-to-minute news cycles, are contributing to our stressed-out lifestyles.
Questions: What produces stress in your life and work? How can you better focus on the here and now?
Let the spiritual lead the physical. A life of longevity will inevitably focus on the spiritual. Deuteronomy 5:33 says, “You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you will possess.” This is both a lesson and a promise: walking through life with God allows us both to live well and to live long. A physically healthy life may be long, but a spiritually healthy life leads to one with purpose.
Questions: How are you investing daily in spiritual development? Do you believe you have advanced spiritually this year as much as you have in your career?
We often refer to life as a race. Young leaders are anxious to sprint to success as quickly as possible. They’ll look back along their path to realize the important elements of life they rushed by. And those leaders will also fail to experience the joy of the journey itself. Life is less like a sprint and more like a marathon. It takes training, patience, mental toughness and a plan to be able to stand strong at the finish line.
The world’s best marathoners lined up in the stadium in Stockholm for the 1912 Olympics. The temperatures were unforgiving that day, and runners struggled from the start, with several dropping out every mile. Shizo Kanakuri was the first Japanese athlete to reach the Olympics. The trip to Sweden took him 17 days. At just 20 years old, he had set a marathon record a year earlier and was looking to bring home Japan’s very first Olympic medal.
Shizo Kanakuri was a Japanese marathon runner and one of the early leaders of track and field athletics in Japan.
There were 68 starters in the 1912 race, and just 34 would reach the finish line in the punishing conditions. Kanakuri succumbed to exhaustion and gave up the race at the 16-mile mark. Humiliated and feeling he would shame his country, he quietly walked off the course.
Kanakuri never notified Olympic or Swedish officials of his whereabouts, and so was listed as missing. Urban legends grew around the country’s lost marathoner, many suggesting he had been running around the country for years, in search of the finish line. In reality, he received some help from a local family, and after a few days he made his way back to Japan.
Though Kanakuri did participate in the 1920 and 1924 games, his legend as the missing 1912 marathoner continued. In 1967, Swedish officials arranged for Kanakuri to return to Stockholm, where he was reunited with the family who helped him and was also invited to finish the marathon. It resulted in a world record for the longest time to finish a marathon. His time was announced as 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 5 hours, 32 minutes, 20.3 seconds—now an official Guinness World Record slowest marathon ever.
After failing to finish the 1912 Olympic marathon, Kanakuri was invited back to finish the race in Stockholm in 1967—54 years later.
During Kanakuri’s 54-year marathon run, he would have six children and ten grandchildren. He wrote in his journal of the 1912 marathon: “My heart is aching with regret. But failure teaches success, and I can only wait for the day with fair weather after the rain so that I can clean up my shame. If people want to laugh, laugh. I can’t fulfill this burden, but dying is easy, and living is hard. I will work with all my strength to brush up my marathon skills and raise the prestige of our country.” He died in 1983 at the age of 92. Until his final days, he would take long walks each day, eager to talk running with any young athlete he encountered.[13]
[1] https://www.livestrong.com/article/13763749-marathon-statistics/
[2] https://www.fatbrokestupid.com/marathons-not-finish-percent/
[3] https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-management-administration/almost-80-of-ceos-say-burnout-affects-workplace-report-finds.html
[4] https://hbr.org/1996/07/when-executives-burn-out
[5] https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2016/06/can-you-lengthen-your-life
[6]https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/tobacco_related_mortality/index.htm
[7] https://revitalizemetabolichealth.com/93-of-american-adults-are-unhealthy-a-deeper-dive/
[8] https://www.healthline.com/health/depression/mental-fitness#mindbody-connection
[9] https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/the-running-blog/2018/jun/21/what-does-running-do-to-your-brain
[10] https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/are_the_rich_more_lonely
[11] https://www.cdc.gov/aging/publications/features/lonely-older-adults.html
[12] https://longevity.stanford.edu/lifestyle-medicine-2/lifestyle-pillars/lifestyle-medicine-2-stress/
[13] https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2021/08/06/shinzo-kanakuri-1912-olympic-marathon-stockholm/