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New York City Marathon ambassador Michael Wardian on setting ‘audacious’ goals, as he takes on a virtual race in Hong Kong
- The American ‘runs the New York City Marathon’ in Hong Kong, raising money for the charity RUN, which supports refugees
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American marathon and ultra runner Michael Wardian says there are three stages to setting and achieving “audacious” goals. It all starts with finding an objective that excites you.
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“First, think about something that lights you on fire, that gets you excited,” he said. “Something that is on the fringe of what you think is possible for yourself.”
Wardian ran his first marathon 25 years ago. A friend’s mother had just run the Boston Marathon, and Wardian was inspired, despite never having run more than 5km. Wardian managed to qualify on his first attempt. From there, he ran numerous marathons, eventually stepping up to ultramarathons and even completing the World Marathon Challenge – seven marathons, in seven days on seven continents. He also held a number of fancy dress marathon records, like running a two-hour, 34-minute marathon dressed as Spider Man.
“Second: Take action. Sign up or at least figure out how you can do it. Like the World Marathon Challenge. I wanted to do it as soon as I heard about it, but it's [US}$50,000,” he said. “I thought ‘OK so how am I actually going to pay for this, how am I going to get support to do it and what does that mean’.”
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