Marathon
mar·a·thon: a long-lasting or difficult task or operation of a specified kind.
I just didn't quit
That's the only distinguishing quality
From me and probably whoever else is goin' through this
Went through this, or is gonna go through this
Is that I ain't quit.
-Nipsey Hussle
The Marathon Of Life
We don’t choose the where, why, or how we get brought into this world. Life chooses us through our parents’ actions. Once the umbilical cord is cut, a long journey towards self-reliance begins. It starts with simple tasks, such as learning to walk, developing the ability to communicate, using the restroom, and feeding and dressing ourselves. A couple of decades later, continued development involves more complex tasks, like learning how to regulate our emotions, figuring out what we want to do with our lives, and just as our parents did, finding someone suitable to love who we can eventually procreate with. From there, the cycle begins anew. From a bird’s-eye view this pattern of life can be visualized in a shape that is circular like the outline of a track. Every year of our lived experience is another lap around said track, and the collection of years that come together to hold the entirety of each & everyone of our lives can be metaphorically seen as a Marathon, known today as a challenging 26.2 mile race.
The word “marathon” originates from 19th-century Greece, Athens to be exact. The dictionary defines a marathon as, “a long-lasting or difficult task or operation of a specified kind.” I’ve never ran a marathon (yet) but from anecdotal conversations, I’m confident that they’re hard AF—and thats exactly how they should be. Because a Marathon isn’t just a race when you think about it, it’s a mentality, a concept that can be extended and applied to all things life: how we live, pursue our dreams, love those close to us, and most importantly, handle the inevitable ups and downs of the human experience.
The first time I visited Greece I made it a point to hit the city of Athens. I still remember the immediate connection I felt to the city—its ambiance, the smells, the delicious cheap food, and of course the beautiful women. But what captivated me most about Athens was its rich history. In high school I read the classic greek stories like Homer’s Iliad, Sophocles’ Oedipus, which birthed my appreciation for Greek tragedy. I learned early about hamartia and immediately recognized its parallels as a cautionary lesson for real life (case in point: Ye F.K.A Kanye West).
My first visit to Athens was life-changing. Walking through Plato’s Academy-the birthplace of stoicism while drinking Greek coffee was a major vibe. In the years leading up to this trip I had gone down the rabbit-hole on stoic teachings on the recommendation from a friend. I found myself resonating with the writings of Marcus Aurelius, Plato, and Socrates to only name a few, as I read and learned more about stoicism. On a tour of the Parthenon with the bros, our guide broke a lot of stories down for us, telling us about The Siege of the Acropolis, the history behind the Temple of Athena Nike (we we’re all from Portland), and the story of Pheidippides & Marathon - a foundational piece of inspiration for this writing. I felt honored to learn and stand in a place with so much profound history, dating back to a time when everything and everyone I’ve ever known didn’t exist. As I took in all the the epic stories that day I couldn’t help but notice how the mythicism of Athens had such a huge impact on my life, a kid who grew up halfway across the world from it.
Find Your Pace
In a professional track and field race, organizers strategically include a runner with no intention of winning. This runner, known as a pacemaker, has one goal: to ensure a competitive pace. The good ones do their job very well. For example, in an 800m race (two laps around the track), a pacemaker might be instructed to bring the group through the first lap in 50 seconds for (a solid high-school boys’ 400-meter time). Shortly after crossing the 400-meter mark at say, 500 to 600 meters you’ll see the pace-setter gracefully exist off the track and the real race begins among the true competitors. Why is this done? There a several reasons, but I’ll focus down on one key point: it’s extremely difficult to find your true pace while focusing on other competitors, it’s very easy to fall into the trap of going out too fast for the first lap in attempts to keep up with someone, only to be later passed by another runner who stuck to their pace better throughout the race. Aside from the 100-meter sprint, most races aren’t just about sprinting at the max 100% of the time, thats a quick ticket to getting smoked in longer races that require strategy like the 400-meter, 800-meter, and the marathon. Sticking to your pace without the assistance of a pacemaker is not easy especially when you mix in nerves, adrenaline and a group of other competitors who want to win just as bad as you. Knowing how to adequately pace yourself for the duration of a race is what sets apart the losers from the winners, and this is true not only for track events, but real life as well.
Thinking a bit more abstract outside the track, finding your pace in your Marathon of life may be one of the most important things you do. Earlier I said life can be thought of as a marathon, and if you subscribe to this, the pace you run it at will determine a lot of how things unfold for you. It’s important to call out that your pace will be dynamic. Sometimes it may slow down considerably and other times it’ll speed up when you’re feeling good. As long as you’re being authentic with your intentions, all while listening to your body and being true to yourself, you’ll never have to worry about completely gassing out and quitting, and most importantly you’ll stay healthy. Another thing to remember is to not get discouraged on your progress—it’s often hard to gauge true progress especially when you’re in the midst of it—always keep a belief that you’ll arrive at the end-destination of your desires eventually.
Almost 20 years ago If you had asked me what I wanted to do as an adult I would’ve answered quickly: an olympic runner. Since then a lot has changed for me personally and I never became an olympic runner, although I did become a 3 event (110m & 300m hurdles + the triple jump) city champion. But I don’t feel like I failed in life because I didn’t make it to the podium at the Olympics. Track & field taught me life lessons, like discipline, that still keep me on pace on my life’s marathon today. Without it, I surely wouldn’t be where I am right now in life. Track saved my life and I’ll proudly say that till my last day. No matter what you want to go after in this life remember that as long as we’re alive, the potential to achieve it in some shape or fashion is still there. Every goal achieved will unlock new ones to achieve. And when one path has become obstructed, try to be open to altering course, both paths have the potential to bring you to the true end-goal, acceptance and happiness.
Tryna’ stay alive, living how I say in my rhymes
My cousin used to tell me, "Take this shit a day at a time"
Told me Friday, died Sunday, Wednesday in the ground
I still smile, 'cause somehow, I know he seeing me now
-T.I
Amor Fati: Love of Fate
In January of 2018 ,during the euphoria of the crypto bull market that began in 2017, I attended a crypto meetup in downtown Los Angeles. It wasn’t my first meetup; I had attended a few in the months prior as Bitcoin’s price surged to $17,000 for the first time. There was a lot of excitement around that milestone and it started to feel like Bitcoin and crypto as a whole had gained legitimacy in the investment community. The meetup took place in a nondescript building in the South Park district of DTLA, a few blocks away from Dignity Health California Medical Center. The event kicked off and to my surprise I saw face that I didn’t expect to be there, it was Nipsey Hussle. I still remember the sounds of his tucked chains clanking as we took in the panel talk portion of the meetup. Amid all the excitement I didn’t get a chance to go up and actually talk with him afterwards, but knowing that he was interested in the same “magic internet money” community that I was helped reinforce, to me at least, that what was piquing my interest at the time held weight amongst people who were visionaries. I left the meetup that night feeling pretty excited about the future. On my drive home afterwards I drove right past Dignity Health hospital before hopping on the 10. I thought nothing of it at the time, but soon, that hospital would serve as reminder for myself.
2009 was the year when I first heard of Nipsey Hussle. Over the following years I’d grow to deeply appreciate his music. One theme that resonated with me was his conceptualization of a marathon as a life journey toward fulfilling one’s purpose. An idea that heavily inspired the writing of these words. As I talked about in the beginning, I too like to look at life and how I progress towards my purpose as a Marathon as well, and think it’s a powerful framing that we all should use at times. One difference between a literal marathon and a life marathon is that, for life marathons, they all have different lengths-but undoubtedly each life marathon is unique and important in it’s own respect. For Nip, that would be the one and only time that our two marathon’s intersected. Tragically, just fourteen-months from the time that I last saw him at that meetup, he would be senselessly gunned down. I would later find out in bitter irony that the hospital he died at was Dignity Health, the same hospital I drove past that night of the meetup. I still occasionally drive past it till this day, and every time I drive past it now, it’s a reminder of the ancient greek principle of memento mori: “remember you must die.” Nipsey went out on his own accord, since his death, the energy that he put into his music has spread across the world and inspired millions. He ran his marathon of life very well if you ask me.
The highest human act is to inspire
-Nipsey Hussle
Close your eyes and picture everyone you’ve ever met and known, all your friends, loved ones, and family—100 years from now it’s almost guaranteed you and everyone you thought of won’t be around to read these words anymore. Instead of looking at this as some depressive or sad fact, I think it’s more valuable to consider it as a call to action. We only get one shot at life and every day that passes is an immutable thing. Time runs linearly, once a moment has passed theres no way to get it back. Use that as fuel to challenge yourself to always act in the best of ways, to always think the best of yourself & others when possible, and to always run your life marathon with an acceptance of both the good and the bad.
I went through every emotion with tryna pursue what I'm doing
You know what I mean?
And I think that what, what's gon' separate whoever's gon' try to go for something is that, you ain't gon' quit
That's, you know, you really gon' take the stance of I'm gon' die behind what I'm gettin' at right here
-Nipsey Hussle
Run Your Laps
I call myself a creator because I’m happiest when I’m creating. Whether with words, musical elements, or physical objects in my life. The medium doesn’t matter. I have to create. The lens that I see life through is: everything is art, both my triumphs & my failures. In a world soon to be dominated by artificial intelligence the biggest moat we have as humans is the fact that we have souls. At the end of the day, it’ll always be up to us to define what’s sublime. When one marathon ends, another begins. When Nipsey Hussle’s life was tragically cut short, the energy he poured into his life and art multiplied exponentially, fulfilling his destiny in a sense. At the end of the day us humans are just phenomena of energy, and it’s a scientific fact that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred. Energy transfer is real, the best marathon runners understand this, they’re masters at finding sources of positive energy to keep themselves going, even when things get tough. They know the importance of avoiding things that drain energy and they have the discernment to properly distinguish between the two. So the next time you’re feeling discouraged on your life’s marathon and thinking about quitting, remember that it’s ok to slow down your pace for a time being in order to get yourself right. But it’s never ok to quit, when we quit, we shortchange ourselves and the billions who came before us, the ones who passed the baton to us in one way or another. We owe it to them to keep going, and we owe it to our descendants in the future as well.
I wish you well on your marathon of life.
I feel these emotions, but still I keep going
A pen to a poet
I been through the motions
I’m feeling heroic
But life is a dice game
And I dare you to blow it
-Nipsey Hussle
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