Sunday Long Run: The Great Equalizer

Feb 18, 2024

The start lines of races are home to all walks of life. Thick, skinny, short, young, old, tall, male, female—endurance is the great equalizer.

It doesn’t matter who you are or what affiliation you carry, human nature takes over everyone at the start line. You’re bound to look to your left and crack a nervous joke to anyone who will listen, you may even get a few laughs if lucky.

It’s a funny scene, a mob of people, whether a few hundred of 20,000, all jammed together for a similar objective. If you’ve never raced, your first time will have you asking questions in your head. Who are these people? Where did they come from? How did this many people find out, and sign up, for this race?

You could call it a small niche inside of “escapism” umbrella—we’re all running from our daily lives to compete against ourselves and the clock. As for the “who” and the “where” of the above questions, there are usually three main pipelines for endurance athletes to be made.

Former athlete of some caliber (HS or College), finding themselves needing a place to put energy/stress and needs a challenge. Ex track/XC is obviously upper echelon of this group, but do not count out any other athletes from becoming amazing runners.
Overweight, going to the gym/dieting not working. Throws hand into endurance/running and is enlightened. This group is usually the most mentally sound and at peace with their current state. They’ve been through the highs and lows of life, and found the competitive itch from their journey. They are usually life long runners, where the other two groups come and go.
Competitive by nature and needs a “carrot on a stick” to stay motivated, always chasing PRs or new races. Think David Goggins mindset, where they need a challenge to reach new heights. FYI, this is a GOOD thing. The drive to get better is naturally alive within this group, “born with it” one could say.

No matter the path to the start line, everyone is there. No one group will outperform the other 10 times in a row.

The only reason I am highlighting this is to show you that you are not automatically count out from being a great runner. It may take a few years, but there’s almost every avenue available to you to become a top percentile runner (in terms of population—sorry no Kipchoge’s are reading this).

It’s not uncommon for the finish line at the 2hour 59minute mark of a large marathon to look your average 5pm gym crowd, a mixed bag of humans. (It’s not just the prototypical runner build is the point.)

Running is a finicky sport—injuries, time, and life seem to get in the way, but the best runners over time are the ones that are adaptable. Sometimes in life you need to be able to switch motivations or whys.

—>Maybe you start out as the first group, an ex-athlete hardwired for using your body is now sitting at an office desk. Time to run!

—>But maybe you do the running thing for a bit, got burnt out, and packed the weight on: Time to be in group 2!

—>Now you’re back and feeling in the hunt again, a bit older with less fast twitch fibers but you still have an engine. Time for group 3. Use that carrot on the stick to fuel you. 5K PRs, ultramarathons, triathlons, you name it. Stack wins.