--- title: Man Accidentally Runs Full Marathon Instead of the Half description: ”This just kind of proves you can do a lot more than what you think you can sometimes,” the man said canonical: https://time.com/5288532/marathon-mistake/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-05-23T15:23:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:16.495Z og:title: Amped Half Marathon Runner Runs Full Marathon By Mistake og:description: ”This just kind of proves you can do a lot more than what you think,” he said og:url: https://time.com/5288532/marathon-mistake/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Amped Half Marathon Runner Runs Full Marathon By Mistake twitter:description: ”This just kind of proves you can do a lot more than what you think,” he said twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Enthusiastic Half Marathon Runner Accidentally Runs Full Marathon Instead > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=3a50863e-912e-4fb2-ab83-333393cb1620&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Cost of Running a Marathon [Watch (HLS stream): The Cost of Running a Marathon](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/d4kChq2T.m3u8) (1:55)  _Published 2017-09-11. The Cost of Running a Marathon_ by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker May 23, 2018 3:23 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker May 23, 2018 3:23 PM UTC It’s clear that Mike Kohler underestimated his own [running](http://time.com/4825495/is-running-good-for-you/) ability. He signed up for to run his first-ever half-marathon on Saturday, May 19, but accidentally ended up running the whole thing. The West Fargo, ND., plumber had taken part in the Sanford Fargo Marathon’s 10K race last year and the 5K the year before that. This year he was planning on taking the next step and running the half marathon, [according to the _Grand Forks Herald_](https://www.grandforksherald.com/news/4450067-man-mistakenly-runs-full-fargo-marathon-instead-half). He woke up early, headed to the Fargodome, and when the announcers said go, he went. The only problem was that Kohler had misread the start time for the half-marathon and ended up taking off with the runners competing in the full marathon. Following the pack, he [ran](http://time.com/4667098/is-running-bad-for-your-knees/) the course heading north, instead of the southern route the half-marathoners were meant to follow. He started to get suspicious when noticing signs for full marathon runners, but brushed it off thinking the two courses must intersect later along the route. He just kept running —and [running](http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1832033,00.html) and running. When he finally realized his error, he decided to just keep going. “I’m just going to go for it, because why not? I’m already here, I’m already running, I’m already tired. Might as well try to finish it,” Kohler told the Grand Forks Herald. He finished the 26.2 mile race in just under six hours. ”This just kind of proves you can do a lot more than what you think you can sometimes,” Kohler said about his unplanned accomplishment. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5288532/marathon-mistake/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5288532/marathon-mistake/"},"headline":"Enthusiastic Half Marathon Runner Accidentally Runs Full Marathon Instead","datePublished":"2018-05-23T15:23:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:47:16.495Z","description":"”This just kind of proves you can do a lot more than what you think you can sometimes,” he said","url":"https://time.com/5288532/marathon-mistake/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Sports"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5288532/marathon-mistake/","name":"Enthusiastic Half Marathon Runner Accidentally Runs Full Marathon Instead"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Cost of Running a Marathon","description":"The Cost of Running a Marathon","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/d4kChq2T/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-09-11T15:07:58.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/d4kChq2T.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5288532/marathon-mistake/","duration":"PT1M55S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5288532/marathon-mistake/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```