Marathons 

Nothing I’m about to say has been fact-checked and verified. But I think I’m right.

For some reason today I was thinking about marathon runners. Not sure why. I hate to run and don’t understand the psyche of people who do. Especially marathon runners.  That’s a lot of miles. My back hurts driving 26.2 miles. I almost omitted the .2, but that’s quite possibly the hardest stretch.

I was wondering how many people enter marathons with a goal of winning? Or finishing in the top 10. Maybe 5%? 1%? Surely it’s a small number of people who really think they can finish in first place. So why do the other 95% or more even bother? Why enter a race if there’s no chance of winning?

I believe their goal is to just finish. Finishing, even crawling to the finish line, would count as a victory. The last person who hobbles across the 26.2 mile mark probably feels like a winner, because he didn’t quit. He finished what he started.

There’s a life lesson.