In my last post, I shared the reality that sometimes things can get low in ultra running - even while training. In blogs and on social media, it's easy to only post stuff about the great runs and the great days. But that would be deceitful. The reality of the ultra running sport is that there are bad days and low points. Ultra runners are very good at minimizing those lows and powering through them, but they do exist. Interestingly enough, at almost the same time that I was dipping down into the doldrums last week, my old training partner Sarah was having her own struggles a half a continent away. She posted this blog post this week about how to overcome mental struggles and low motivation while ultra training. I can't help but share, because as always she's a brilliant writer and precisely nails it. I chuckle to myself as I remember her yelling at me during the Miwok 100 - "Just Pretend!!!!" as she sailed away while I was decompensating under a giant redwood tree looking for my lost cell phone. Ahhh....the memories.
A week later, spring has arrived in earnest and I have bounced back. Life is still stressful, full of family commitments and juggling priorities. But I had a great run today with the company of several friends along the way and am feeling my running mojo return.
After I arrived home after my run, my husband pointed out that the Barkley Marathons documentary was on Netflix! Yippee! I have been wanting to see it, but have only seen it advertised at select screenings so far. I just finished it. What a race. When one is feeling the need for a pity party...watch this film.
A race that's supposed to be 100 miles, but is actually 130 miles with 60,000' of elevation gain according to the racers. Since the race began in 1986, only 14 runners out of about 1000 have finished within the 60 hour cutoff.
This is a race that has fascinated me since I first heard about it early in the days when I was contemplating this ultra running thing. I had listened to a podcast with Dr. David Horton, as he talked about the race. He was the second finisher. Later, I heard Nickademus Hollon tell his story about the race, attempting it for the first time in 2012, then finishing in 2013 at age 22. And now Gary Robbins has received his condolence letter and is training for Barkley. Check out his training video of covering 20,000' in 31 miles here. He's the one I'm following for 2016... I will be cheering you on Gary!
A quote in the movie from the race founder Gary Cantrell really stuck in my mind, "People have their own concepts of success and failure, - they are really not concerned about how other people evaluate their performance. They make their own judgements." I think this is something that exists in all sport, but also uniquely defines endurance athletes including ultra runners. Ultimately, it's up to us to decide in our own minds whether we are going to bounce, or stay down; whether we are going to succeed or fail. We all have own own ideas of how that is defined, each day, each week, each race. The people that keep going are the ones who are constantly adjusting their paradigms, their attitudes, and turning failures into successes.
The laws of physics and momentum can apply to the mind as well as the physical world - what goes down can also come back up with equal energy. I have practice this art over and over again, but I finished this week with a renewed resolution to BOUNCE.
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