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Category: mental toughness

UltraQuotes – Part II

These are some more daily quotes I read to program my thoughts. I keep these in the forefront of my mind to remember how to act. Inspiration is like bathing; you need to do it daily. They are a gentle reminder of what’s most important in life.

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”

You build yourself along the journey. This can go for your life partner. It’s not about finding the perfect person; it’s more about growing together and being what each other needs most.

“Success isn’t about how your life looks to others. It’s about how it feels to you.”

Be careful of the status symbol type stuff.  Fancy cars and a big house don’t mean anything if those inside are miserable.  Success is connected to relationships around you.

“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. One who lives life fully is prepared to die at any time.”

This also made me think that fear and action can not occupy the brain at the same time.  When I am anxious about a situation just act.  Fear will melt away.

“If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes.”

An idle mind is a sad mind.  Being busy keeps sadness at bay and gives us purpose.  Knowing what must be done does away with fear.  There’s no rule for how to live this life and what you can deem worthy of your attention.

He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.

One of my favorite books, From Strength To Strength, asks the two questions: Why were you born, and what are you willing to die for? The goal of life is to have a solid answer to those two questions.

Be happy while you’re living, for you’re a long time dead.

Why so serious?

“People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity no matter how impressive their other talents.”

True in racing and self-development.  You get nowhere if you can’t push yourself to new heights.

People’s IQs seem to double as soon as you give them responsibility and indicate that you trust them.

People want to be needed and don’t like betraying your trust. Normally…

“We can control 2 things – our thoughts and actions. Everything else is not under our control.  We can’t control what others will think about us, so stop worrying.”

I would even argue that our thoughts are not in our control at times.  Negative thoughts will come so must also learn to let them pass.

What you resist persists.

If you resist something, it usually falls into one of these categories: it’s something others might judge you for, it causes some kind of conflict, or it’s your first time experiencing it. Recognize this and push through the uncertainty and doubt.

That dude is about to run off the cliff… Taking the path less traveled.

“I didn’t pay attention to times or distance, instead of focusing on how it felt just to be in motion, knowing it wasn’t about the finish line but how I got there that mattered.”

Motion is a gift.  It’s temporary like everything else so be grateful to be moving!

I greet every sunrise with cries of joy like a prisoner who is reprieved from death.

I wake up, and my first words internally are “Yeah baby, I get to do it all again!” You GET to do this, and you GET to be here. Be grateful for every breath you have on this earth while you are here! Stop complaining. Stop criticizing. Stop comparing. The 3 Cs of a CRAPPY life occur when those things CONSTANTLY come out of your mouth.

You are constantly cultivating the past, which is used in our brains to model future situations.  

You are a sum of your experiences, both good and bad.  Challenges show our future mind we can endure hardships greater than the current situation.

Create vs consume.  

Days, when I create media, feel more fulfilling than those when I just consume it, especially mindless media like TV. This doesn’t apply as much to thought-provoking content like books or podcasts. Try creating something before you consume, like having a healthy meal before indulging in junk food.

Life is not up, up, up.  It’s up, down, up-down.  Just be aware of the downs, but realize they don’t last forever.

Thoughts of insecurity, difficult times, and sadness all pass like a moving storm.  Just note gone, from the inception until it passes.  NOTHING is forever, not you, or anything you have built.  Enjoy only the current moment because it’s all you have.

Nothing beats a good paperback book while blasting down a rocky trail…

The benefits in life come from compound interest.  Investment in knowledge pays exponentially.

The more time you commit to almost anything starts to provide major returns. That goes with relationships, running, and money. Remember, learn to love slow progress!

I’m either ready or I’m not. Worrying about it right now ain’t gonna change a damn thing.  Whatever’s gonna happen is gonna happen.

This is a critical message to all athletes in the taper phase. It is also about what they tell themselves the night before an event. But for god sake please have a plan if it’s a race…

Decisions can be made for the short-term, or long-term gain choose wisely.

Those who take advantage of people or situations are playing the short-term game. Don’t make problems for future Homer.

Mind is everything.  Muscle – pieces of rubber.  All that I am, I am because of my mind. 

Developing yourself emotionally and mentally is more important than physical feats.

Be kind.  Harsh words are remembered for a long time.

It’s a fine line between being funny, and harsh criticism that puts another person down.  The best humor is self-deprecating, you don’t need to make fun of others.


Thanks for reading. Please share some of your favorite quotes in the comments below.

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No Control in Ultrarunning

I was thinking about my beating heart. Weird, I know, right? If you’re in a quiet setting, you can feel it, and it gave me this idea: there are many bodily functions over which we have no control. Heart rate, hair growth (bald guy here wishes he could ?), kidney function, etc. The body takes control and manages everything on autopilot. Then there are the things under our control: what food we put in our mouths, what we consume with our eyes and ears, and where our feet take us. That’s how life works—some things are in your control, and the rest are not.

You control what races you sign up for and what you do in training. There’s a large amount of control there. But what if the body could decide where you spend your time, what food you could eat, or what workouts to do? It can’t, but it does send signals. Low energy, limited range of motion, inability to touch your toes, overly tight or sore muscles, or chronic injuries are signal flares. Could you imagine if your body took over and started doing stretches and mobility work because it knew?!? “Hey, your quads or hamstrings are way too tight! I’ll fix this,” similar to the immune system. That idea was making me laugh for some reason…

In racing, you can’t control who shows up. It’s the old trope: control the controllable. I was also thinking about the term “control freaks”, the term I used to generate some nice AI art. Those who try to control everything make for bad parents, bosses, spouses, etc. Control freaks want to see things done how they want versus what’s best for the situation. Not that you shouldn’t try to influence your life in some way, but realize that in parts of it, you only have control over your emotions, and that’s it.

Control Freak

There is a part to “being prepared,” but there is also a part to letting go and trusting in the training, mixed with situational awareness. You can stack the deck in your favor. Bad weather, wet shoes, missed aid stations, or whatever—you can control how you feel. That is what you have control over, not letting your emotions or imagination run wild because it’s never as bad as you think.  That’s normally what results in a DNF, where your expectation of what you thought didn’t align with your pace or place.

You get dealt cards in life and must play the hand given. Some get dealt a pair of aces, while you get a pair of 2s or 3s.  “You get what you get and you don’t get upset” is what I tell my children. Life isn’t fair, but it favors those who don’t give in and are mindful vs mindless. Those who keep finding a way to survive, and those who keep pushing forward when they think they are out of options. If you have a beating heart and can stand on your two feet, keep moving. Control is an illusion, like a magic trick our minds play on us. You have no control, just control over how you feel. That’s why they say to know yourself, how you react, what sets you off—be aware of it so you can control THAT, not the situation. Make the best of it, smile, laugh, and bust your ass every day. Your heart keeps beating without your control, hoping you put the right things in your mouth, get enough sleep, and move throughout the day.

My question is, if the body could control itself, what would it stop you from doing? You have to pull yourself out of bad situations, almost thinking, “My body would prefer I not do this to myself.” Mood follows action, and more times than not, once I start doing what needs to be done, the mind gets on board. Like the heart beating on its own with no intervention, what if the body decided to go for a run, but you didn’t want to? Your hands shot out, grabbed a pair of running shoes, and started lacing them up! You kept saying no, but the body didn’t listen. All of a sudden, you’re out the door and running. That’s almost what I need with fitness and health. Like giving the keys to let someone else drive.  Would your body keep doing what you currently do daily? Sitting all day, hunched over a screen, doomscrolling Facebook or Instagram, or reading my blog ?? I don’t think so, well maybe the blog part… It’s a decent blog…?  I leave you with the lyrics to one of my favorite punk songs along this same topic below.  Enjoy!

Bad Religion – No Control (One of my favorite punk songs)

Culture was the seed of proliferation, but it’s gotten melded
Into an inharmonic whole to an inharmonic whole
Consciousness has plagued us and we cannot shake it
Though we think we’re in control
Though we think we’re in control

Questions that besiege us in life are testament of our helplessness

There’s no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end
When we all disintegrate, it will all happen again, yeah

Time is so rock solid in the minds of the hordes
But they can’t explain why it should slip away
Explain why it should slip away
History and future are the comforts of our curiosity
But here we are rooted in the present day
Rooted in the present day

Questions that besiege us in life are testament of our helplessness

There’s no vestige of beginning, no prospect of an end
When we all disintegrate, it will all happen again, yeah
If you came to conquer, you’ll be king for a day
But you too will deteriorate and quickly fade away

And believe these words you hear when you think your path is clear
We have no control
We have no control
We have no control
We do not understand, you have no control
You are not in command

You have no control
We have no control
No control, no control
You have no control

Thanks for reading!