Reflections From the 2025 Seattle Marathon
The Unexpected Value in a Difficult Race
Yesterday I ran the Seattle Marathon, and I didn’t come anywhere close to the finish time I was aiming for. I could list the excuses; it was cold (30deg F), lots of hills (though that was true when I ran it last year), not getting enough sleep the few nights before, etc. But in reality, the reason was that I wasn’t as prepared as I should have been.
Honestly, I should have known how the day was going to go the moment I woke up. My sleep tracker logged three hours of sleep, and my Garmin helpfully informed me it was a “rest day.” If anyone knows of a watch with better pep talk ability, I’m in the market.
Yesterday was a humbling reminder that sometimes ambition outpaces preparation. And yet, as I reflected on the race this morning, I forced myself to look for the lessons from yesterday’s less than ideal race.
Here are four of them:
1. Your results are a reflection of what you train for
While I have done lots of endurance events this year, I pretended that those were enough, but I don’t know of any shortcut to training for a marathon. Your race results give you exactly what you trained for.
If I want a different outcome next time, it starts with being more intentional about my training; better consistency, better recovery, and more discipline. That’s not self-criticism; its really just a reminder
Preparation is the difference between hoping for a result and earning one.
2. You learn more from failure than success
Success can be a wonderful teacher, but I think failure is a better one.
The days that don’t go your way encourage you to reflect. They increase self-awareness and highlight gaps in preparedness. Yesterday gave me more insight about myself than a race where I met my goals.
I didn’t hit my goal, and while that’s really disappointing, the learning is incredibly helpful.
When things don’t go to plan, take the opportunity to gain the insight needed to make better decisions next time.
3. Peak performance isn’t the same as optimal performance
This race reminded me about the distinction between peak performance and optimal performance. Peak performance is about hitting your absolute best on a perfect day; optimal performance is about doing the best you can with the conditions, preparation, and energy you have on the actual day of the event.
Yesterday required optimal performance. It required self-reflection about what I was actually able to do, not what I aspired to do. Once I accepted that, I started making better decisions rather than forcing a pace that wasn’t sustainable.
Great leaders make the best decisions with the conditions they have, not the ones that they wish they did.
4. Pivot When the Plan Isn’t Working
I started the race following the 3:50 pacer. When that pace stopped feeling realistic, I settled in with the 4:05 group. When that wasn’t working, I backed off again and followed the 4:20 pacer.
Not once did I think, “If I can’t hit my original plan, the race is over.” Instead, I kept adjusting. I made game-time decisions based on what was actually happening, not what I wanted to happen.
Adaptability is a leadership superpower; adjust the plan without abandoning the goal.
Yesterday wasn’t the race I wanted, not at all. But it did reinforce the lessons above, and reinforced discipline, and reminded me that progress isn’t always a straight line.
I’ll be back (later this month for another event), better prepared. But for today, I’m taking the learning, the gratitude and a rest day.
If you ran the Seattle Marathon too, or you’ve had a race, project, or goal that didn’t go the way you planned, I hope you can pull something valuable from it. We grow just as much from struggles as we do from the finish line.