Sören Is Running a Marathon. Of Course He Is.
Eight weeks of prep, no plan, no doubt. About a friend who just goes for it — and why that's more than a running strategy.
There are people who plan. They research training schedules, buy the right shoes, download three apps, and then start — in twelve weeks.
And then there’s Sören.
Five weeks ago, Sören decided to run a marathon. Not in six months. In eight weeks. No plan, no coach, no doubt. Just shoes on and out the door.
Anyone who knows Sören isn’t surprised. The man is a survivor. Not in the dramatic sense — more the way water always finds a way. Whatever comes at him, Sören finds a solution. Usually one no normal person would have thought of.
Startup DNA Without the Pitch Deck
Sören does startup stuff. But not the way LinkedIn imagines it. No “Excited to announce” post, no disruption buzzwords, no perfectly curated founder résumé. Sören stumbles into ideas the way other people stumble into Spotify playlists — accidentally, curiously, and suddenly he’s in the middle of one.
Where others write a business plan, Sören has already built three prototypes. Where others are still reading the market analysis, Sören has already talked to real customers. Not because he’s particularly strategic, but because nobody told him you’re supposed to do it differently.
Or someone did, and he didn’t care. Both possible.
42.195 km With Vibes as a Training Plan
Eight weeks to prepare for a marathon — objectively, that’s insane. Every running blog, every coach, every algorithm will tell you: don’t do this. Twelve weeks minimum, sixteen ideally, with a base-building phase the year before.
Sören probably hasn’t read those articles. Or he has, and thought: Yeah, sure, but I’m me.
And that’s the thing — for most people, that would be arrogance. With Sören, it’s just this quiet baseline trust that it’ll work out somehow. Not because everything will go perfectly. But because he knows he can deal with imperfect.
Kilometer 30 is going to hurt. Kilometer 35 will be hell. But Sören will find something — a stupid thought, a song stuck in his head, pure stubbornness — and keep running.
Why We Should All Be a Little More Sören
We live in a world that tells us we can only start once everything is right. The right moment. The right knowledge. The right preparation. And until then? Until then we read one more article, watch one more YouTube video, wait one more month.
Sören doesn’t wait.
Not because he’s reckless. But because he understood what most of us still have to learn: the best time to start is almost always now. Not tomorrow, not next month, not when conditions are perfect. Now.
Is that always smart? No. Will some of it go wrong? Sure. But Sören has started more things, lived more, and learned more than most people still waiting for the perfect moment.
Preparing for a marathon in eight weeks isn’t a running strategy. It’s a way of living.
Anyway
That’s exactly why this blog exists. buildinganyway.com — building, even when conditions aren’t perfect. Starting, even when the plan isn’t done. Going for the run, even when eight weeks is really not enough.
Sören is going to finish this marathon. I know that because I know Sören. And when he stumbles across the finish line, completely wrecked and grinning like an idiot, he’ll have proven exactly what this blog is trying to put into words:
You don’t need permission. You don’t need a perfect plan. You just need to start running.
Anyway.