Kenyans are Human: The Chicago Marathon and the Dangers of Comparison
As part of my Best Year Ever, I ran the 2008 Chicago Marathon. For an out-of-shape guy then skirting the shadowy borders of middle age, it was an exercise in pain, discipline, self-knowledge, and eventually, persisting through the hurt to do something I never dreamed I could do. But it wasn’t about self-criticism. I didn’t compare myself to the thousands of runners who finished ahead of me and think, “I’m not as fast as they are. I suck.” Unfortunately, too many of us do precisely that.
Ever since my race I’ve followed the Chicago Marathon, and it was cool to see an American, Galen Rupp, win the 2017 men’s race with a time of 2:09:20—the first American to win since 2002. Now, the fact that Rupp won was pretty amazing, but that’s because it was only his fourth marathon (he was a silver medalist in the men’s 10,000m race at the 2012 London Olympics, so it’s not like he was a novice off the street). What wasn’t amazing was that he beat the Kenyan marathoners who always seem to dominate the major distance races.
A lot of people assume that if a Kenyan is in a marathon, first place is out of the question. They take it as a given that the Kenyans are distance running savants who can’t lose. But that’s just not the case, as Rupp showed. Are the Kenyan runners terrific athletes? Yes. Do they follow a brilliant training regimen? Undoubtedly. Are they genetically blessed? Probably. But they’re not superhuman.
From time to time, we’re all tempted to assume that our opposition—whether it’s a competing company, a candidate for the same job, or the guy across the net on the tennis court—is simply better than we are. In part, that’s a preemptive excuse for failure: “It’s not my fault I didn’t win! Look how fast/smart/well-funded the other guy was!” But that attitude also diminishes the importance of work and preparation, and in any field, those are everything.
Talent is great, but talent will only get you so far. The world is full of people with extraordinary talent who never honed it through hours and hours of endless work, and as a result, never achieved much. It’s equally full of people with moderate talents but a monstrous work ethic, and many of them have done great things. Sure, every so often you get someone like LeBron James who’s a blend of epic talent and gut-busting discipline, and we call those people geniuses. But you don’t need to be gifted or a genius to be a success. Skill, discipline and hard work matter more. Quit psyching yourself out before the race even starts by assuming the other guys are all better than you. Think of this: what if everybody else is looking at you and thinking the same thing?
