Apparently billionaires run weekend 5Ks like the rest of us.
On Sunday, Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder of Facebook and Meta, toed the line at the 2023 DAA Industry Opt Out, finishing in 19:34, under his stated goal of sub-20 minutes.
The 38-year-old billionaire posted about the race on Instagram after, saying “Good 5k with friends. Whole crew hit our sub-20 min goal, but that before and after photo shows we had to push!”
His finish was good enough for 11th place out of the 885 participants who finished the Palo Alto race, and he took 4th in the 35-39 age group. Zuckerberg is the CEO of the tech giant Meta (the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp), which is based in nearby Menlo Park, California.
Known as an avid runner in years past—he completed his goal of Races & Places with five months to spare—Zuckerberg has recently cut back on the miles.
“I used to run a lot,” he said on Joe Rogan’s podcast in August. “But the problem with running is you can think a lot.” Now, he turns to other outlets, such as mixed martial arts and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, to keep his mind off of business.
“I actually stopped running for a while and got stronger from MMA,” he said on Sunday in a Facebook comment. “Then I ran for about a month before this race and realized I was faster than before.”
In a comment on his Instagram post, he said, “All the BJJ (Brazilian jiu-jitsu) got me stronger. I barely train running now and I'm faster than when I used to run a lot.”
On March 24, Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, welcomed their third daughter, Aurelia Chan Zuckerberg, to the family. Chan and the family’s oldest daughter, Maxima (age 7), ran the Stanford 5K back in 2018, too.
Now, is Zuckerberg's quick time enough make him change his mind about running?
DAA Industry Opt Out Runner’s World. He is a former all-conference collegiate runner who’s based in Easton, PA. Previously, he worked as the newsletters editor at Runner's World, Bicycling, and Popular Mechanics.
