Why runners make annoyingly useful marketing consultants
Crossing the finish line of the Brighton Marathon, 12 April 2026.
I’m not saying you need to hire someone who runs marathons as your Fractional CMO
That would be ridiculous. Although, obviously, not the worst idea.
But after eight marathons (I’m about to start training for my ninth), I’ve realised running has shaped how I work more than any leadership book, productivity hack or “high performance” podcast ever has.
Because marathon training is mostly not glamorous.
It’s early alarms. Long runs in grim weather. Boring consistency. Learning when to push, when to back off, and how to keep going when your brain is being dramatic.
Marketing is a bit like that too.
The good stuff is rarely a single big, shiny moment. It’s the message, the plan, the content, the follow-up, the boring-but-important bits that keep the whole thing moving.
So, in the spirit of mildly biased self-promotion, here are five reasons runners make annoyingly useful marketing consultants.
1. We know consistency beats a heroic one-off
One big run does not make you marathon-ready.
One good post does not make your marketing sorted.
The stuff that works is usually the stuff you do repeatedly: useful content, clear messaging, decent follow-up, showing up when you said you would.
Not sexy. Very effective.
2. We understand pacing
Go off too fast in a marathon, and you’ll know about it later.
Same with marketing.
Trying to do every channel, every idea and every campaign at once usually ends with a tired team, half-finished work and a lot of “we should really come back to that”.
I help people focus on what matters now, what can wait, and what needs to be done next.
3. We don’t panic when it gets messy
Every marathon has a horrible bit.
Every project has one too.
The website takes longer than expected. The campaign doesn’t land straight away. The numbers are a bit weird. Someone changes their mind after approving the thing.
This is where I’m useful.
I’m calm, practical and much more interested in sorting the problem than making a drama out of it.
4. We respect the boring bits
The boring bits are where the progress happens.
Easy miles. Strength work. Recovery. The stuff you would love to skip but really shouldn’t.
Marketing has those bits too: positioning, website copy, email follow-up, campaign tracking, content planning, landing pages, calls to action.
Ignore them, and the shiny stuff works less hard.
5. We know the finish line matters
I love ideas.
But I’m much more interested in the thing actually going live.
The blog published. The white paper finished. The campaign built. The reel posted. The email sent. The landing page making sense.
Good marketing needs thinking, yes. But it also needs someone to get the work done.
