成功人士缘何爱上马拉松？

    传说，古希腊第一位跑完马拉松的人菲迪皮迪兹最终因劳累过度而去世。但如今，成百上千的看上去颇为理智的人却无视这个悲剧性后果，纷纷参与总长度为26.2英里的马拉松比赛，或是其他类似长度的耐力赛。

    《美国马拉松》杂志（USA Marathon）称，事实上，全美跑完马拉松全程的人数从2000年的不到30万人激增至2011年的52.5万人。据美国体育用品生产商协会（Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association）的数据，全美参加铁人三项全能赛的人数由2008年不到150万人暴涨至2011年的约250万人。

    奇怪的是，许多参加耐力赛的选手却并没有因为参赛而耽误前程。各类赛事为了吸引赞助商，纷纷宣称参赛者都是来自中高收入人群。2006年，曾承办过ING纽约马拉松赛（ING New York City Marathon）的纽约路跑者组织（New York Road Runners）CEO玛丽•威登伯格在接受《纽约时报》（the New York Times ）采访时说，参赛选手的平均家庭年收入为13万美元。而美国铁人三项全能赛组织（USA Triathlon）也称，该项赛事的参赛者平均家庭年收入为12.6万美元。

    那么，究竟是什么吸引着这些平时忙着挣钱人去参加耐力赛事呢？首先，这群人喜欢挑战艰巨的任务。戈多•拜恩以前是位金融界人士，他在1994年曾试图跑完三英里后不得不步行才能回家。由于对自己走样的身材感到不满，他开始了铁人三项全能训练并在2004年的加拿大铁人三项赛上以8小时29分55秒的成绩拿下了亚军头衔。

    拜恩如今已经是一名铁人三项赛教练，他说：“来培训铁人三项赛的人几乎全都是有全职工作的人，我敢说其中至少有一半人还有孩子。我觉得对很多人来说，参加这个赛事无非就是想要挑战自己，看是否能够平衡训练与工作生活的关系。”他还说，要参加铁人三项赛，仅仅靠每周在健身房里跑几次4英里根本不够，但就是这种“疯狂劲儿吸引了很多人”。

    运动心理学家查理•布朗的培训对象既包括职业运动员也有公司管理人员，他说事业有成的人的行为习惯“非常适合这些耐力运动项目”。就算是那些在学校里“只读圣贤书不爱做运动”的人，也能够在耐力上一鸣惊人，而耐力则是马拉松和铁人三项全能赛所需的主要品质。“打网球需要手眼协调，”他说，而篮球、排球等球类运动则又需要身高和敏捷，“而耐力项目只需要咬牙坚持到底就行了。”那些商业上异常成功的人士通常清楚该如何设定长远目标，以及怎样把它分解为一系列可行的阶段。

    然而，职场成功与运动之间的关系或许还不止“毅力”这么简单。美国塔夫茨大学弗里德曼营养科学与政策学院（Tufts University's Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy）院长罗宾•凯娜里克是一位铁人三项赛选手，曾多次拿下她所在年龄组的冠军称号（她今年66岁），她曾做过一项实验，给实验者发一些简短的个人简介，简介上的这些人之间最大的不同就是锻炼的程度。参与者会将经常锻炼的人描述为“更积极、更专注”，而这些都是事业有成的人希望具备的品质。

    Legend has it that Pheidippides, the first person to run a marathon in ancient Greece, died as a result of the strain. Yet these days, thousands of seemingly rational people don't view that grisly result as a reason not to run 26.2 miles or undertake other similarly lengthy events.

    Indeed, the number of U.S. marathon finishers increased from just shy of 300,000 in 2000 to 525,000 in 2011, according to USA Marathon. Roughly 2.5 million people participated in a triathlon in 2011, a huge leap from just under 1.5 million in 2008, according to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association.

    Curiously, many of these endurance athletes haven't given themselves to sport at the expense of professional success. Races court sponsors by claiming that they cater to an upper-income demographic. In 2006, Mary Wittenberg, CEO of New York Road Runners (which stages the ING New York City Marathon) told the New York Times that her average runner's household income was $130,000. USA Triathlon says the average triathlete's household income is $126,000.

    So what's the appeal of endurance sports for people who are busy earning money, too?

    First, such folks like difficult tasks. Gordo Byrn is a former finance type who tried to run three miles in 1994 and had to walk home. Unhappy that he was so out-of-shape, he started training for triathlons and finished the Ironman Canada in 2004 in 8 hours, 29 minutes, and 55 seconds -- good enough for second place.

    Byrn now coaches other triathletes and says that "almost everybody has full-time jobs and I'd say more than half have kids on top of it. I think [for] a lot of folks, what appeals to them is this challenge of trying to balance training with family and work." He says that "the whole craziness of it appeals to people" in a way that simply running four miles a few times per week for health and fitness doesn't do.

    Professionally successful sorts "have got great habits that fit an endurance framework," says Charlie Brown, a sports psychologist who works with both professional athletes and executives. Folks who were not necessarily on the jock side of the geek-jock divide in high school may be off the charts in terms of persistence -- the major characteristic needed for marathons and long triathlons. "You don't have to have the hand-eye coordination you need for tennis," he says -- or the height and dexterity you'd need for basketball, volleyball, etc. "You've just got to be able to grind it out and endure." People who are successful in business often know how to set big goals and break them down into doable steps.

    The relationship between professional and sports success may go beyond perseverance, though. Robin Kanarek, dean of Tufts University's Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy -- and herself a triathlete who frequently wins her age group (she's 66) -- conducted an experiment in which she gave people short descriptions of individuals. The major difference between the descriptions was how much people exercised. Research participants described the intense exercisers as "more motivated, more dedicated," she says -- characteristics successful people may want to promote about themselves.