Casey Neistat made me run a Marathon in 4 months

In December, I wasn’t running at all. Like 5km every 2 months. Maximum.

But one click on YouTube made me run 500 km in the past 4 months and sign up for my first marathon.

The video? “Do Hard Things” by Casey Neistat. It was a masterpiece. And one of the most motivational videos I’ve ever watched.

In this one, Casey wasn't just talking about running a sub-3-hour marathon. He was proving that excuses are just stories we tell ourselves.

Even after a brutal accident that should've ended his running career, he pushed through.

And made it sub-3 after years of trying.

After that video, I couldn't think about anything else.

I was that guy hiding behind excuses.

I was supposed to run a marathon in 2020, but it got canceled because of COVID.

Since then, I kept using that as my excuse.

How many times have you told yourself, "I would have, but this happened..."?

I did it a lot.

But running a marathon was on my bucket list. My father and my brother did it. I was the last one.

So that day, I made a promise to myself. I would run a marathon in 4 months.

After the first run, I was destroyed. Pain everywhere.

But I decided to keep going.

I followed the 10% rule, which means I only added 10% more distance each week to avoid getting hurt.

But it wasn't enough.

10 weeks in, my calf got tendinitis. I had to stop for a week.

Then, two weeks later, I got sick with a high fever.

And finally, two weeks before the marathon, I got hamstring tendinitis after a run in Seoul.

I had to skip one of the most important runs of the training: the 30 km long run.

But slowing down to heal was the only way I'd make it to the starting line.

Did I make it?

Well, I just dropped a video on YouTube where I take you through my 16-week training leading up to my first marathon (in Australia):

Click here to watch the full episode

PS: If you've ever run a marathon or plan to do one, let me know in the comments 💪

Florian