12 Celebrities Who Have Run Marathons

New York Marathon 2003
Time: 4:14:52

Diddy is the Daddy of speed marathon training—he prepped in just six weeks, motivated by raising money for New York City public schools. Although he never trained for a long-distance event, the mogul ran track in high school, focusing on the quarter-miler. According to E!, he got into shape by cutting back on partying and switching to a high-protein, low-carb diet while also building up his running distance to 20 miles before tapering off. He even trained at the New York Rangers facility, running on an underwater treadmill. “It's excruciating to run in water because the lactic acid builds up,” he wrote in the New York Post. “But I wanted to push myself, and then sleep like a baby on the ride back to the city.” Perhaps the biggest challenge was abstaining from sex until after the race. He told USA Today, "Two weeks is a long time for me, because I'm a very healthy Scorpio. My hormones are raging.” But all the sacrifices were worth it: Diddy crossed the five boroughs, sex-starved and limping, to log a respectable time and raise around $2 million for his charity.