We all have a bit of a marathon athlete in us

People want to challenge themselves, to feel a sense of meaning and enjoy a sense of mastering their craft, says the writer.a race so brutal that only 19 men have managed to finish it in the past 35 years. Paris is the first woman to complete the race.

The agony involved in these endurance races defies belief. I think not just of the winners, but competitors such as Rosello Sole, who spectacularly dropped out of the Barkley Marathons in 2019. A former winner of the event, he had to quit part-way through in 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. And yet, he keeps returning.

Behavioural economics adds more to the story, notably that people may mispredict and misremember the joys and sorrows involved in any enterprise. There certainly is some selective memory involved; many extreme athletes report vowing never again to subject themselves to some ordeal, only to return once the agonies have faded in the mind.

And the last, and most elusive, is the sense of meaning that can be found after surviving extreme conditions and perhaps even cheating death. We only truly appreciate a warm bed after trying to sleep in a bivvy bag on a cliff ledge; we value time with friends and family all the more when reminded of the fragility of life.

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