One hundred and twenty-six years ago today, April 19, 1897, the first Boston Marathon was held.  It is the world’s oldest annual marathon, a race in which competitors run 26.2 miles through the streets of Boston.

The marathon race is named for the for the legend of Pheidippides. The story goes that during the Battle of Marathon (a Greek city) in 490 B.C., Pheidippides saw a Persian vessel changing course toward Athens when the Greeks were on the brink of victory.  Believing that the Persian ship was going to either falsely claim victory for the Persians or raid the city of Athens in a last-ditch effort, Pheidippides ran the entire distance from Marathon to Athens, shouted to the Greek assembly “we have won!” and then collapsed dead from exhaustion.

We don’t know if the story of Pheidippides is true.  But in 1896, the first modern Olympic games included the 26.2 mile race, and people have been running marathons ever since, including at the Boston Marathon each April.  But why?  Some people think running marathons is crazy—after all Pheidippides collapsed dead when he finished. 

In 1962, President Kennedy gave a speech about America’s effort to land a man on the moon.  And he acknowledged that some people might ask, “why the Moon?  Why choose this as our goal?  And they may well ask, why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic?”  And so on.  And his answer was: “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard….”

So, my question for you is this: Is there anything you do, just because it is difficult?  Whether it is running, or writing a book, or building something with your hands, do you ever just take up a challenge, knowing you might fail, simply because it is hard?

Have a wonderful day.