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David Meszaros

David Meszaros

Writing about awareness, self-reliance, health, and freedom for people taking control of their lives. Marathon runner.

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I Wasn’t Ready for the Marathon I Actually Had to Run

When success stops looking anything like the original plan

7 min readOct 23, 2026

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This article was originally published in Running Home, my weekly newsletter about awareness, self-reliance, health, and freedom. If it resonates, Subscribe and join 700 readers.

“Do what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are.” — Squire Bill Widener

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Nike billboard along the Chicago Marathon course reading “Are you gonna finish that?” under a clear blue sky.
I took this photo during the race. At that point, the question felt very real.

I wanted so badly for somebody to make this decision for me this time.

When I woke up, I knew my marathon was probably over because when my alarm went off, I felt like I hadn’t slept at all.

It was the kind of feeling you get after partying all night and getting maybe two hours of bad sleep. My airways were extremely dry, my throat was scratchy, and I had a bit of a headache too.

In that condition, I knew I couldn’t run a marathon properly, but the real question was whether I should run at all.

The moment I started questioning my participation, my pride took over.

I told myself to have breakfast, drink some electrolytes, get ready and wait a little. Maybe things would improve once I had eaten and moved around. So I went through my traditional marathon morning routine. I ate breakfast while watching David Goggins calling me a…

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Writing about awareness, self-reliance, health, and freedom for people taking control of their lives. Marathon runner.

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