Process over Podiums: Lessons from the Record-Breaking London Marathon

Well… it finally happened.

The fabled two-hour marathon barrier has been broken—and not just broken, but shattered—by two athletes at last Sunday’s London Marathon.
There are countless storylines from this historic race. But the one that stands out most to me isn’t about the winner, Sabastian Sawe. It’s about the runner-up, Yomif Kejelcha.

And more importantly—it’s about process vs. outcome.
If you’ve worked with me, you’ve heard this before: process goals matter over outcome goals. This race might be the clearest example of that principle in action.

Because here’s the wild part:

This was Kejelcha’s marathon debut!

Let that sink in.

In his very first attempt at 26.2 miles, he didn’t just run well—he ran arguably the greatest marathon in history. He broke the world record. He ran under two hours. He executed at a level most athletes can’t even comprehend.
And yet…he finished second.

Not long ago, running a sub-two-hour marathon was considered impossible—much like the four-minute mile before Roger Bannister broke it in 1954. In fact, entire projects were built to test whether the human body could even handle it. Advances in footwear, fueling, pacing strategies—all of it has pushed the limits of what we thought was possible. We saw controlled attempts at this with marathon GOAT Eliud Kipchoge—perfect conditions, pacers, precision pacing. And he proved it could be done.

But London was different. This wasn’t a carefully orchestrated exhibition event- this was a race.

And Kejelcha? He showed up and executed nearly flawlessly. No prior marathon experience. No guarantee how his body would respond at that pace over that distance. Just trust in his training, discipline in his pacing, and commitment to his process.

He did everything right. And still—he came in second.

So what’s the lesson? 

Let’s be honest: most of us reading this aren’t chasing a sub-two-hour marathon. But the principle? It applies to every single one of us—runners, triathletes, and anyone pushing their limits.

When we tie success strictly to outcome goals—podiums, placements, beating a specific person—we’re handing control over to variables we don’t control. We can’t control who shows up on race day, how they perform, or how that may or may not alter the race trajectory. 

Just ask Kejelcha.
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But we want to control what we can control- our pacing, nutrition, preparation, execution, mindset. That’s the process.

And when we lock into that process, something powerful happens: we give ourselves the best possible chance to perform at the highest level—regardless of what anyone else does.

A shift worth making:

As a coach, I hear this all the time: 

“I want to podium.”
“I want to beat my training partner.”
“I just want to finally get ahead of that one guy in my age group…”

I get it. Competition is part of what makes this fun. But if that’s your only measure of success, you’re setting yourself up to miss the bigger picture, and likely be disappointed come race day. You could execute perfectly… and still not win, or beat your training partner, or that one guy, etc. etc...

However, next race day, you could have the race of your life, hit every split, nail your fueling, stay mentally locked in-  which is incredible in and of itself. Yet you still might finish second. And THAT perfect race should mean way more than who beat who on race day.

Sound familiar?