Ran a marathon. Is it worth mentioning in a resume?

Pretty straight forward,
In a small section in the bottom, lets say “notable experiences” would it be worth putting in that I ran a marathon?

I would probably say no, unless it was relevant to the job (shoe company), you got a significant time (Boston qualifying or better), or if you have done many marathons (Ie. have a list 10 or something).

But still, congrats!

You could still work it into conversations in an interview though about “overcoming challenges”.



R

Just to clarify: completed a marathon length race or organized and executed the event of a marathon length race?

It does depend on the job you are going for, some interviewers use the interests section of your resume to try and get to know you towards the end of the interview once the serious “can he do the job” boxes have been ticked.

In general you should only include interests that show you in a good light or are relevant to the position.
A Marathon is a good talking point it also shows you have determination and commitment to work hard towards a goal and stick with it until the end.

Do you think it will help to get you an interview?

If yes, than include it, if no, than don’t.

For example, if interviewing at a very health conscious or athletic company, if you are doing research on the company and you find they have lots of internal health conscious programs for employees, or the marathon you ran is geographically relevant (i.e. the job is in Boston, and you ran the Boston Marathon)

Strengths: rock hard glutes

Weaknesses: I just gotta run, man. Don’t chain me to a desk.

Good catch, I literally ran 26.2 miles.

I would mention it, but bury in the last personal sentence. Like “In my spare time I like stuff, things, ran a marathon in 201X”. When I applied for jobs out of school I mentioned that I toured Europe with a band in a van for 2 month. It served as a nice icebreaker for at least 1 interviewer to avoid awkward silence moment.

Also, where I work, that has nothing to do with running or sports, a lot of people are interested in running and do so on lunch breaks. Our CEO has competed in several Iron Man courses. If you mentioned you ran a marathon, HR bells would ring that you would fit in with the company culture. Having the same qualifications as someone else, that might tip the scales in your favor. Of course, if you applied to a company of slobs not interested in fitness, it could backfire, so do your homework.

A little OT, but do you know the first rule about cross fit?

Don’t shut the fcuk up about cross fit.

Do you know the second rule of cross fit?

Don’t shut the fcuk up about cross fit.

As others wrote, if you have a personal interests portion of your resume, no reason not to put it in there. Someone with a 26.2 sticker on their bumper will want to talk it up. Most won’t, just don’t force it on them, unlike those who cross fit.

Continuing the foray in OT territory (and following the first two rules of cross fit) . .

Like most of us, I had a coworker that was into cross fit. I learned all about it and how great it made him feel. He was getting really excited because the monthly pull-up contest was coming up and he was going to try to do 500. He came to work the next day and was pleased as punch that he reached his goal. He then took the next 4 days off because he couldn’t write, draw, use a mouse, or type because his hands were blistered and arthritic.

He didn’t talk about cross fit anymore after that.