One day, Nick Goutman will have run all six major world marathons. In due time, he will cross the finish line of the New York City Marathon, qualifying him for Boston, where he will conquer Heartbreak Hill.
Soon enough, he will complete an Ironman race and step into the ring in an organized boxing match.
But today is not that day.
Nowadays, Nick is “only” logging PRs in half marathons every few months. Not bad for a kid who used to despise sports.
“I got bullied a lot as a kid,” says Goutman, who quickly opened up about the emotional and physical difficulties he faced in his childhood.
“So, my mom enrolled me in every sport under the sun. Baseball, basketball, all of that. But I struggled socially and wasn’t a great player. I always felt I was being forced into it.”
Nick soon fell in love with martial arts, which became his introduction to what real confidence meant.
“Martial arts gave me a release, for anger, insecurity, all of it,” he said. “For the first time in my life, athletics was easy.”
Loving action movies, martial arts was quickly a natural fit for Goutman. Where his confidence truly grew, though, was from the physical empowerment of the sport.
Physical activity became a source of therapy for him. After graduating high school in 2014, Nick attended Ithaca College. But college tuition and a small budget meant a new reality for him.
He couldn’t afford the luxury of the local MMA gym. So he pivoted to weightlifting.
That’s when he fell in love with fitness at a whole new level.
“Ithaca has this huge gym, and I’d sneak in just to be around it. I was in awe of all the machines,” he said.
“Being under a heavy bar, not knowing if you can lift it brought me the same thrill I got from stepping on the MMA mat.”
For perhaps the first time in his life, Nick found a real sense of peace from physical activity. With each change in his muscle tone or visible vein, he became more and more motivated to train harder each day.
2020 changed all that, and quickly.
Gym closures at the onset of the pandemic meant working out far less, if at all.
He turned his apartment into a gym, but it just wasn’t the same. He was used to structure and routines. But with graduation in the rearview mirror and no tangible goal on the horizon, he battled a period of depression.
When gyms finally opened back up and Goutman got under the barbell again, a new version of himself was reborn. Rejoining Tiger Gym, he felt rejuvenated.
Becoming more and more acquainted with the gym and spending time with other serious lifters, Nick set a goal for himself:
Compete in an MMA tournament at 170 pounds.
It was a lofty goal. At the time, he weighed in at 235. And the tournament was less than five months away.
But Goutman set his sights on reaching it, and that was enough for him to work as hard as he could every day to achieve it.
Daily training and a rigorous diet pushed him harder than he’d ever been pushed before.
In the end, it was all worth it. On match day, he stepped up on the scale at 164 pounds.
But during his training, he had badly fractured his foot.
“I still competed,” he proudly said. “But I placed 8th, despite being the most prepared I had ever been. That process taught me so much, but it was a tough pill to swallow.”
Goutman was transforming his body overnight. He knew he could do much more.
Later that year, he took his weight loss goal to another level. This time, it was slimming down to 155 pounds.
Not only did he successfully make weight, he placed 3rd.
The lesson he learned along the way? Grit and hard work often outshine talent.
Whether by coincidence or fate, he met a new friend who was an avid runner. Goutman quickly took up the sport, but first just as a casual hobby. He figured it’d be solid cardio work to supplement his MMA weight training.
He went from hating running, to tolerating it, to making it his own thing.
By April of 2024, he was competing in his first official half-marathon.
“I ran it in 1 hour and 41 minutes. The crowd was amazing, I didn’t expect that type of support at all,” he said. “It was the most fun I’ve ever had on a run.”
“From that day, I decided that one day I’d run a marathon.”
Now, Nick was all in.
From late 2025 to mid-2025, he went on to run five more half-marathons. In Staten Island, he finished at 1:46 despite battling a foot injury.
Days later, he spontaneously signed up for another half with little rest and recovery time. He got sick after the race, fainted, and required medics to arrive on the scene.
“There were definitely some days – like this one – when I wanted to say ‘screw it’ and give up. But I kept reminding myself how far I had come.”
By January – just a few months later – he finished with a 1:40 in a half-marathon in Florida.
His confidence was restored.
Feeling perhaps the best he’s ever felt, Goutman posted online – for all his friends and peers to see – the dates of his upcoming running races and MMA competitions. He was really holding himself accountable by being so vulnerable.
“But at some point, it started to pile up. I felt like I was always rushing.”
“I never thought about quitting, but I did feel like I bit off more than I could chew. What kept me going was reminding myself of my mantra: my ‘why.’”
Nowadays, Goutman works as a school social worker in New York City. Working with students allows him the opportunity to instill many of the life lessons he’s learned through his health and wellness journey.
“I always give my students the example of not building a bicep from a singular training session,” he says.
“It’s the same with emotional growth or academic goals. You’ve got to keep at it. Even if you don’t see results right away, you’ll accomplish more with the more time and effort you put in.”
One day, he will reach all of his physical feats – and then, set his sights on a new goal. He’s proven time and time again that he will continue working until his goals are not just met, but exceeded.
And despite all this, Goutman continues to experience bouts of failure. In fact, it may be the biggest blessing he’s encountered throughout his life.
Why?
“Because if you fail, fail again, and continue showing up until you get the result you want,” he confidently said.
“I could have quit plenty of times. But you owe it to yourself not to give up. Life isn’t a dress rehearsal.”
“You only get one shot.”
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