Ultra Marathon Reflection
Random Thoughts, Life Lessons and Reflections from running a 50K
It’s not how you start it’s how you finish:
The amount of people who started off in front of me was a bit absurd. I remember thinking to myself, I may be drastically under trained for this, they're either going to blow up or I’m going way too slow to finish respectability. My plan was to check my ego, go overly slow to start, listen to my body and find a way to finish strong. About mile 15 I slowly started passing people. People who were literally miles ahead of me five miles into the race. Suddenly miles 17-20 were my fastest miles of the race and I didn’t look back from there. The energy, the adrenaline I got from feeling stronger as the race went was game changing. The excitement of the start, the motivation of something new will get you going but it’s how you finish that matters. How you persevere to get things over the line, that’s what counts.
Choose your suffering:
This one is simple. Life is going to make you suffer one way or another. You can choose your suffering by putting yourself in challenging situations that will prepare you for the hardships of life or you can face adversity without the training. I’d prefer to put myself in those situations so when life gets hard I have the mindset on how to persevere. Every single person is more capable than they believe they are and daunting physical tasks will reveal how capable you are. Choosing your suffering or life will choose it for you.
Having a plan is key to getting big things done:
Completing an ultra marathon has been something I wanted to do for years. I knew however with my schedule, the activities that I love to do, following an ultra running plan just wasn't going to happen. Starting June 1st I ran once a week.Yup, once a week was all I ran with the exception of 4 tempo runs mid august - mid september. What I did was up my injury prevention work, my unilateral leg days and did tendon and ligament strengthening to prepare for the pounding I was about to take over 50k. I had a training plan that wasn’t going to overload me. I asked people who had done this before, anyone and everyone with running experience I could find to learn about pacing, nutrition to form a realistic plan that would work for me on race day. I created that plan and stuck to it. When I started so much slower than the majority of the 50k runner's I didn’t abandon my plan. I stuck to it and by mile 15 as I saw so many dropping out I was feeling stronger and knew I had a solid plan to get me through this. Plan, plan, plan. Whatever it is you want in life, plan for it.
Don’t limit what you believe you can do:
I’m a huge believer in having all types of goals. You need to have goals you feel are unobtainable, goals that stretch you, goals that once you accomplish them make you feel like you can do anything. My big goal is heading out to Colorado one day to participate in some of the crazy 100 mile trail races they have out there. After finishing this I know that is something if I really set my mind to accomplishing I can do it. Set all types of goals, small ones, big ones, scary ones and go smash them. You’ll be a better person for it.
There is always time:
I met so many people on the course who owned businesses, had jobs that on paper would never allow them to train for something like an ultra, moms with 4 children, a brand new mom with a six month old. So many of the people who were out there could easily make the excuse there isn’t time to train, there isn’t time to fit in an all day race yet there were hundreds of people out there making it happen. The reality is, if you’re smart with your time, if you have a plan, there is always time. Whatever you want in life you can always find time to make it happen if you want it badly enough.
Life is an Ultra Marathon:
Whatever way you look at it, life for sure is an ultra marathon. You’ll feel great, you’ll hurt, you’ll think, you’ll never be able to finish but you just have to keep going. You have to plan, you have to execute the plan, you have to adjust if the plan needs changing. And when you struggle, cause you will, you have to realize it’s not about the finish, it’s about keeping going and finishing.
