Here are a
few thoughts after my recent run at Rocky.
From an objective standpoint, things went well. I had set a primary goal of a sub 24 hour
finish and made that goal in 22:23. My
20 mile splits were 3:40, 4:00, 4:20, 5:00, and 5:23. I won’t go into everything that made that
happen here except to say that I focused on an overall effort level and never
really wavered from that.
The lessons
learned are much more interesting to me.
This is only my second 100 miler but I’ve run a good number of ultras
now and I really figured out a big key during my training and this race. Essentially, I figured out how to embrace
living in two states of mind at the same time.
Or maybe it would be better to say I figured out how to just deal with
things differently. I’m having a hard
time expressing this still because, well, I think it’s just not the way most of
us think. To better illustrate this,
I’ll just give a couple of examples.
When
explaining that I ran one hundred miles to people, It’s hard for most people to
wrap their mind around it. I certainly
have difficulty doing it myself so I understand how they’re feeling. I was pretty tired after the first twenty
mile loop. Therein lies the
challenge. You just ran twenty miles and
you absolutely cannot dwell on the fact that you have eighty miles to go. You have to keep it in mind, that’s
important, but it has to become something you keep only one eye on. The rest of your attention has to focus on
things like getting from one aid station to the next, not tripping over that
root, running form, etc. The end goal is
ultimately important and you have to have a laser focus on making it, but you
almost need to dissociate your thoughts from it to where you have a very dim
view. The thoughts have to be associated
more immediately on the present moment, lest you trip over a root and go
sprawling like a newborn fawn, as I did at about mile 96. The wonderful thing about this approach is
that it can be applied to anything you put your mind to, even a lifetime of
events. Grand ideas lose focus when they
seem so far away. We have to always have
them in mind, but it’s better to focus on the present.
I would like
to say that my running is fun and that the races are always full of enjoyment
but that wouldn’t be very true. Yes, there
are times when I am really enjoying myself and running has taken me to places
most people will never see in person.
I’ve learned that they’ve become more about adventure, friends, and an
experiment about what my limits are. And
since I mentioned limits, that brings me to another interesting
observation. The thing I’ve really
picked up from moving a hundred miles on foot is pretty interesting. I am simultaneously empowered and humbled at
the same time. That’s the big lesson here. It will make you feel like you can do
absolutely anything, and I’m not necessarily talking about running. Whether it’s work, a sick family member, a
tough decision - that’s the kind of endurance I’ve gained. It’s like there’s some supernatural endurance
that has nothing to do with my physical self.
At the same time, I’m also the guy that tripped over two hundred roots
stumbling around in the dark and just barely trotted across the finish
line. A hundred miles will take
everything you have to finish and will humble you for sure. I’m cool with all of that. I can accept both the endurance gained and
the humility.
