I’ve always wondered what drives people to run long distances for hours on end. What do they gain? and what motivates them?
I don’t fully know the answer but I’d like to find out.
Running Without a Purpose
I grew up hating running. I loved football (soccer), but I only loved running after the ball. Running for no reason felt pointless.
The only time I ever ran a race was back in sixth grade. I don’t even remember the distance just that it was my first and last one for years to come.
Football became my everything. It shaped my identity, my confidence, my discipline. But as I got older, my passion started to fade. I tried other sports, but running never made the list.
Falling in Love with Hard Things
When I moved to the U.S. three years ago, I discovered HIIT workouts that push you to your limit every single time. At first, I hated the idea of going. But I fell in love with the feeling afterward.
The tougher the workout, the more I dreaded it before and during but the feeling after was always worth it. And that kept me coming back. Somewhere along the line, I started to love doing hard things. Every time I conquered one, I believed I could do something harder.
That mindset changed me. It made me believe I could conquer challenges beyond the physical ones.
Inspired by the Impossible
Around that time, I started following endurance athletes, people who did unimaginable things with their bodies and minds. One story in particular stayed with me: a travel YouTuber I’d watched for years who transitioned into an ultramarathon runner.
He went from filming cities to running 240 miles. Watching that shift made me think, maybe it’s not too late for me either. Not to run 240 miles, but to push myself beyond what I’ve known, to see what I’m truly capable of.
The Catch
But a marathon is different. It’s not like doing a hard workout or a spontaneous 10K. You can’t fake 42.1 kilometers.
It demands months of training, discipline, and recovery. It’s a test of patience as much as endurance. And that’s where my biggest obstacles come in, my health and my consistency.
Fixing What Held Me Back
For most of my life, my performances were not consistent. I’d play an incredible football game one day and feel useless the next. I couldn’t understand why my energy levels fluctuated so much.
It wasn’t until recently that I learned I’d been living with chronically low ferritin levels—basically, iron deficiency that caused persistent fatigue. It explained so much: the exhaustion, the poor recovery, the self-doubt.
After years of frustration, I finally decided to get to the root of it. I ran comprehensive tests, adjusted my nutrition, and started treating what had silently held me back for years. For the first time, I’m starting to feel like my body is working with me, not against me.
My Struggle with Consistency
The second challenge is consistency. I’ve always been someone who gets excited about new things but struggles to maintain them like picking up new hobbies or side projects. For example, I got excited about tennis one time, bought all the gear and joined an online community only to quit a couple months later when I lost motivation.
What finally taught me discipline was accountability. When I signed up for expensive HIIT classes with no-show penalties, I suddenly became consistent. Not because I loved waking up early, but because skipping cost me money and I didn’t like that.
That same principle helped me keep up with this newsletter. I promised myself (and all of you) that I’d publish weekly, and even when I procrastinate, I still show up. Just like the fact that I’m finishing this one just hours before posting.
The Plan
So that’s the plan for my marathon: accountability. I’m announcing it publicly because if I can easily disappoint myself in private, I can’t do it as easily in front of others.
I’ll be sharing updates about training, recovery, and everything in between on social media and here.
A New Chapter
Consistency might be the main reason I’m running a marathon but it’s not the only one.
Part of it is emotional. I’m still in denial that football is no longer the center of my life. I used to dream of playing professionally. Now, I’m realizing that chapter is behind me. My body isn’t the same, and I’m turning 30 soon, all of it hitting at once.
My birthday is just a month before marathon day, and deep down, I think this is my way of proving something to myself: that even though my football dream is over, I can still have ambitious physical goals. That I’m still capable of doing something extraordinary.
The Spark from Home
Another reason runs deeper than all that. When I was growing up in Lebanon, the Beirut Marathon was a huge annual event. I used to get so excited about it as a kid, even if I never woke up early enough to watch the start.
I’d turn on the TV halfway through, just to catch the fun runs at the end. I remember being in awe of all the runners. Even though I never thought I’d be one of them, I was fascinated by the energy, the community, and the celebration of movement.
For the first time, I want to be part of that moment and not as a spectator, but as one of them.
The Commitment
So here it is: I’m officially training for my first full marathon: Los Angeles, March 8th 2026. Five months from now.
I don’t know exactly how it’ll go. But I know this: I’m doing it to prove to myself that I can commit, that my body can keep up, and that I’m still capable of chasing something big.
If you’ve been thinking about your own “hard thing,” maybe this is your sign. Because the feeling that comes after you do it is going to be worth it.