ChicagoFit
GLP-1 Apprentice
In a world of rule-makers, prosecutors, and executioners, the musician Judas Priest defiantly yells, “breaking the law, breaking the law.” This past Sunday March 8, 2026 Nathan Martin pulled a Saint Ralph miracle and broke the law to win the LA Marathon! It reminded me once again that I can break laws too!
This past Sunday, the 2026 LA Marathon f*cking smashed all rules. Maybe you didn’t watch? Maybe you thought you knew how it should end? How it would end.
This real-life marathon produced a real-life "Saint Ralph" in the name of Nathan Martin, a 36-year-old warp-and-woof mundane substitute teacher and high school coach from Michigan. Like the fictional movie character Saint Ralph who is depicted in my profile image, the “rule” is that he will fail. He will be mocked. He will be laughed at.
Martin turned the final meters of the race into a cinematic miracle. Much like the fictional Ralph Walker, Martin entered the race as a gritty underdog, a man balancing the mundane duties of the classroom with the quiet persistence of a marathoner. No “fat chance” of victory. The rule is Kenya wins.
As the runners turned toward the finish, Martin was chasing Kenya’s Michael Kimani Kamau, a Kenya running machine! Kamau had a commanding lead. Was there any doubt Kamau was destined for the podium?
In a moment that mirrored the St. Ralph movie, Martin refused to acknowledge the "fat" reality of his own exhaustion or the mathematical gap between him and the leader. He believed in breaking the law of probable outcomes and refused to believe in anything less than a miracle.
The drama unfolded in those final 800 meters. Would there be a miracle? With the lead Kenyan finally in his sights, Martin launched an "improbable chase," finding a gear that shouldn't exist after 26 miles of pounding pavement. If you youtube it, you will understand my feeling as I watched: “too bad Martin is so far behind near the finish. There is no way that he will ever fill the gap.”
In the closest finish in the history of the event—a staggering one-hundredth of a second—Martin leaned at the tape to snatch victory from a collapsing Kamau. This wasn't just a win.
It was “breaking the law.” It smacks the "Saint Ralph" philosophy that hope, when paired with a "C-grade" substitute teacher's unrelenting work ethic, can override the predicted outcome of rule makers. Martin’s victory makes him the first U.S.-born Black runner to win a major city marathon in decades. Everyone assumes rules. For them the race is already won or lost before it even begins.
Today don’t steal other’s souls with your rules, prosecutions, executions. Instead, break laws. I can be a Saint Ralph and make miracles happen in my life. Martin proved it.
This past Sunday, the 2026 LA Marathon f*cking smashed all rules. Maybe you didn’t watch? Maybe you thought you knew how it should end? How it would end.
This real-life marathon produced a real-life "Saint Ralph" in the name of Nathan Martin, a 36-year-old warp-and-woof mundane substitute teacher and high school coach from Michigan. Like the fictional movie character Saint Ralph who is depicted in my profile image, the “rule” is that he will fail. He will be mocked. He will be laughed at.
Martin turned the final meters of the race into a cinematic miracle. Much like the fictional Ralph Walker, Martin entered the race as a gritty underdog, a man balancing the mundane duties of the classroom with the quiet persistence of a marathoner. No “fat chance” of victory. The rule is Kenya wins.
As the runners turned toward the finish, Martin was chasing Kenya’s Michael Kimani Kamau, a Kenya running machine! Kamau had a commanding lead. Was there any doubt Kamau was destined for the podium?
In a moment that mirrored the St. Ralph movie, Martin refused to acknowledge the "fat" reality of his own exhaustion or the mathematical gap between him and the leader. He believed in breaking the law of probable outcomes and refused to believe in anything less than a miracle.
The drama unfolded in those final 800 meters. Would there be a miracle? With the lead Kenyan finally in his sights, Martin launched an "improbable chase," finding a gear that shouldn't exist after 26 miles of pounding pavement. If you youtube it, you will understand my feeling as I watched: “too bad Martin is so far behind near the finish. There is no way that he will ever fill the gap.”
In the closest finish in the history of the event—a staggering one-hundredth of a second—Martin leaned at the tape to snatch victory from a collapsing Kamau. This wasn't just a win.
It was “breaking the law.” It smacks the "Saint Ralph" philosophy that hope, when paired with a "C-grade" substitute teacher's unrelenting work ethic, can override the predicted outcome of rule makers. Martin’s victory makes him the first U.S.-born Black runner to win a major city marathon in decades. Everyone assumes rules. For them the race is already won or lost before it even begins.
Today don’t steal other’s souls with your rules, prosecutions, executions. Instead, break laws. I can be a Saint Ralph and make miracles happen in my life. Martin proved it.
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