Just show up.

A quote I came upon that I relate to running or big challenges in life:

Hard choices, easy life.  Easy choices, hard life.

Jerzy Gregorek

Most of the time we don’t know when life will become difficult. Once things get difficult there is nothing you can do, you are now forced into the situation. Now you get to ride the wave! You are committed, all chips are in. With running we don’t know what will happen once the race starts, you just have to deal with it. Weather, injury, stomach issues, foot pain, it’s going to be something if you let it bother you.  The thing is, it doesn’t have to! Suffering is a choice! You actually get to choose how you feel about most situations, Some of that is dependant on the experiences you have had. So that’s what training, preparing, studying, and working hard does. It prepares your mind to manage and expect everything and anything that might happen.  If you are working hard, odds are, you already have felt difficulty. You have felt the pain, soreness, hurt, and fatigue of giving all your effort. Nothing new is going to happen you haven’t already experienced. So get up every morning and just START, just go, put the time in. With all things, it’s the first time that’s most difficult. We just have to make those hard choices that will make everything else easier.

Once the big day is here, there’s nothing left to do.  The money is in the bank, whatever happens, won’t be because of any last-minute decisions, it’s out of your control. Everything is your fault, win or lose, succeed or fail we have nobody else but ourselves to blame. I have had so many races go sideways and I used to blame everything. You can’t look at things that way because once you do everything is out of YOUR control.  We only get so many chances, so many days. How are you going to spend them? What will they add up to?

I hope you get what you’re after. Personally, I’m chasing experience, I want more time, I want to see more places, races, meet more people. Don’t waste a day. I won’t live a life of regret. The biggest issue is once you get to the end, can you look back and be happy with yourself? What have you accomplished? Every day can be an opportunity to prove to yourself you can do amazing things. 2020 will be filled with new challenges, getting out of my comfort zone. When you are a little worried, when you feel scared, when things are tough, that’s when you know you are on the right path. That’s the only time you will change.

It all starts with putting in the time.  Doing the difficult things BEFORE I get to that starting line. Put in the time before the challenge shows up. I’m not hoping for a miracle come race day, I just have to show up.

Patrick Durante

Patrick is an ultrarunner and coach from Philadelphia who loves documenting his running career. His mission is to provide useful tips and tricks to assist others along their ultra journey.  You can find his coaching services at https://ultraruncoach.com.