????傳說，古希臘第一位跑完馬拉松的人菲迪皮迪茲最終因勞累過度而去世。但如今，成百上千的看上去頗為理智的人卻無視這個悲劇性后果，紛紛參與總長度為26.2英里的馬拉松比賽，或是其他類似長度的耐力賽。

????《美國馬拉松》雜志（USA Marathon）稱，事實上，全美跑完馬拉松全程的人數從2000年的不到30萬人激增至2011年的52.5萬人。據美國體育用品生產商協會（Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association）的數據，全美參加鐵人三項全能賽的人數由2008年不到150萬人暴漲至2011年的約250萬人。

????奇怪的是，許多參加耐力賽的選手卻并沒有因為參賽而耽誤前程。各類賽事為了吸引贊助商，紛紛宣稱參賽者都是來自中高收入人群。2006年，曾承辦過ING紐約馬拉松賽（ING New York City Marathon）的紐約路跑者組織（New York Road Runners）CEO瑪麗?威登伯格在接受《紐約時報》（the New York Times ）采訪時說，參賽選手的平均家庭年收入為13萬美元。而美國鐵人三項全能賽組織（USA Triathlon）也稱，該項賽事的參賽者平均家庭年收入為12.6萬美元。

????那么，究竟是什么吸引著這些平時忙著掙錢人去參加耐力賽事呢？首先，這群人喜歡挑戰艱巨的任務。戈多?拜恩以前是位金融界人士，他在1994年曾試圖跑完三英里后不得不步行才能回家。由于對自己走樣的身材感到不滿，他開始了鐵人三項全能訓練并在2004年的加拿大鐵人三項賽上以8小時29分55秒的成績拿下了亞軍頭銜。

????拜恩如今已經是一名鐵人三項賽教練，他說：“來培訓鐵人三項賽的人幾乎全都是有全職工作的人，我敢說其中至少有一半人還有孩子。我覺得對很多人來說，參加這個賽事無非就是想要挑戰自己，看是否能夠平衡訓練與工作生活的關系。”他還說，要參加鐵人三項賽，僅僅靠每周在健身房里跑幾次4英里根本不夠，但就是這種“瘋狂勁兒吸引了很多人”。

????運動心理學家查理?布朗的培訓對象既包括職業運動員也有公司管理人員，他說事業有成的人的行為習慣“非常適合這些耐力運動項目”。就算是那些在學校里“只讀圣賢書不愛做運動”的人，也能夠在耐力上一鳴驚人，而耐力則是馬拉松和鐵人三項全能賽所需的主要品質。“打網球需要手眼協調，”他說，而籃球、排球等球類運動則又需要身高和敏捷，“而耐力項目只需要咬牙堅持到底就行了。”那些商業上異常成功的人士通常清楚該如何設定長遠目標，以及怎樣把它分解為一系列可行的階段。

????然而，職場成功與運動之間的關系或許還不止“毅力”這么簡單。美國塔夫茨大學弗里德曼營養科學與政策學院（Tufts University's Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy）院長羅賓?凱娜里克是一位鐵人三項賽選手，曾多次拿下她所在年齡組的冠軍稱號（她今年66歲），她曾做過一項實驗，給實驗者發一些簡短的個人簡介，簡介上的這些人之間最大的不同就是鍛煉的程度。參與者會將經常鍛煉的人描述為“更積極、更專注”，而這些都是事業有成的人希望具備的品質。

????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.