Did I tell you this story?

It’s 4 a.m. I haven’t slept all night. Going to the marathon race all by myself.

Chugged a massive can of Red Bull on my way there.

Got a cup of coffee when I got there.

I’m overdosed on caffeine. The energy is electric.

Heard the announcer say “The race starts in 5 minutes. Everyone make your way to the starting location.”

The starting location was so crowded and packed, it felt like you were in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. People were everywhere. Shoulders bumping with each other. Faces full of anxiousness and fear of what’s going to happen in the race.

Even the guy next to me was grumbling.

…wait, that was my stomach (I didn’t eat anything all night).

A few minutes go by…

My heart is racing.

Doubt starts to creep in.

• “You didn’t train hard enough”

• “What if you don’t finish the race?”

• “What if you can’t achieve my goal?”

The whistle goes off…

Now, I can tell you exactly what happened to me in the Dubai 2024 marathon. But I’m going for a 15 km run now.

… so you’ll have to settle for the next best thing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR6wXPm66LQ

I’ll see you in the next email.

Hussain “World’s Greatest Runner” Ibarra

PS:

Send me a DM on X and let me know if you’d like to see more of these chill and non-education emails.