To make fun of the manner the writer is criticizing. It has a very sarcastic tone to it.
Answer: The answer is ''Idiom, idiom cannot be taken literally and must be understood as a whole.
Answer: Where you start is where you end
Explanation:
The paradox of this passage can be best stated as that where you start is where you end because everyone in that race that started to run for something ended up at the same place where they started.
Everyone started to run very fast and soon they were very tired and the one who started slowly won the race but the winner and the ones who did not win ended up in the same place.
B hope i help have a great day