Wall Street’s Elite Are Turning Marathon Times Into a Status Symbol
From supershoes to altitude masks, money is no object for runners in pursuit of elite training regimens and faster marathon times.
Photo illustration: Rui Pu for Bloomberg. Getty (5)
Munir Nanji, Citigroup Inc.’s head of central Europe, says he spent more than a decade overeating, drinking too much and flying too often as an investment banker in Asia. Six years ago, around his 50th birthday, he took up running. Since then, he’s spent tens of thousands of dollars on what has become an obsession involving hundreds of personal training sessions, regular blood tests, countless massage treatments and up to three hours a day of training. The result: Nanji secured a place on the Czech ultramarathon team.
In his quest to improve as a runner, Nanji dropped $2,000 on a climate-controlled Eight Pod mattress topper that regulates his temperature through the night to purportedly optimize his sleep. There’s also the $80 a month he spends on Athletic Greens, a powder that promises to boost energy and immune defense, $400 a year for a Whoop band subscription to track his recovery and other metrics, plus the cost of sports gels, saunas, ice baths, more supplements and a heat suit that elevates his body temperature to replicate running in hotter climate.