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Ultra Cockroach

Ultra Cockroach

Published by Patrick Durante on March 7, 2025

The Cockroach Theory

At a restaurant, a cockroach suddenly flew from somewhere and sat on a lady. She started screaming out of fear. With a panic-stricken face and trembling voice, she started jumping, with both her hands desperately trying to get rid of the cockroach. Her reaction was contagious, as everyone in her group also got panicky. The lady finally managed to push the cockroach away but …it landed on another lady in the group.

Now, it was the turn of the other lady in the group to continue the drama. The waiter rushed forward to their rescue. In the relay of throwing, the cockroach next fell upon the waiter. The waiter stood firm, composed himself and observed the behavior of the cockroach on his shirt. When he was confident enough, he grabbed it with his fingers and threw it out of the restaurant. Sipping my coffee and watching the amusement, the antenna of my mind picked up a few thoughts and started wondering, was the cockroach responsible for their histrionic behavior?

If so, then why was the waiter not disturbed? He handled it near to perfection, without any chaos. It is not the cockroach, but the inability of those people to handle the disturbance caused by the cockroach, that disturbed the ladies. I realized that it is not the shouting of my father or my boss or my wife that disturbs me, but it’s my inability to handle the disturbances caused by their shouting that disturbs me.

It’s not the traffic jams on the road that disturbs me, but my inability to handle the disturbance caused by the traffic jam that disturbs me. More than the problem, it’s my reaction to the problem that creates chaos in my life. Lessons learnt from the story:

I understood I should not react in life.I should always respond. The women reacted, whereas the waiter responded. Reactions are always instinctive whereas responses are always well thought of. A beautiful way to understand LIFE.

The HAPPY person is not because Everything is RIGHT in his Life. He is HAPPY because his attitude towards everything in their life is right!

For some, the idea of running an ultra event is like this story. As soon as you tell them how far you like to run, they have a knee-jerk reaction. “OMG, I don’t like to even drive that far, do you sleep?” For those in the sport, the response is normally followed by several questions. Was it technical, how much vert, was it scenic, hard or easy, etc. They respond versus react because they have been there; they are open to the idea versus that initial shock. Why would you choose to do such a horrible activity? We control how we feel about almost everything we do, and it’s in using tools like curiosity and excitement that we remove that reaction and judgment. It creates a yearning for a deeper understanding.

Ultra Cockroach

The nature of many actions we perform have no purpose, but they bring joy to those involved. With the Eagles winning the Super Bowl, my kids are excited about football, and I have been having catches with my son. He tells me tales of Super Bowl games at recess and how much fun they have been having. Did you ever stop to think about the purpose of a catch? Why would one perform any action, like dancing, a football catch, or creative writing? The joy is in small moments as they happen, but when analyzed from an outside perspective, the activity makes no sense. Like those who can’t wrap their heads around running all day for fun, but people can wrap their heads around sitting all day binge-watching TV. Much like that person asking about the ultra. Why would I do that? I am completely comfortable in my chair on the sidelines.

There doesn’t need to be a purpose in everything we do, because why would we do anything? Why would someone put so much time and effort into a run? Why would someone dedicate so much time and effort to move their body? The answer lies in the response of those in the action. It’s those who are in the action that see the action for what it is: a connection to nature, friends, body, mind, and soul that eliminates suffering. Those who put themselves in the act are able to remain calm and cool, unaffected by the trauma of daily life. They respond versus react; they slow down their thought process, and they take in more of what’s happening. They are detached just 2-3 seconds from their own initial responses; that’s what running, and more importantly ultra running, does for myself. It creates a buffer where you think more before you act; you process things slower. You become less reactive and more responsive.

The Ultra Cockroach

Running creates a connection to the breath, to your lungs, to your arms. The mind becomes sharper, not reacting but responding to the demands of stress. When you stop running, that stress you were dealing with is less, and normal life moves at an almost snail’s pace. Mental or physical stress are the same to the body, and it can’t tell the difference. When you adapt to workout stress, you also adapt to mental stress. It creates a template on how to deal with high stress levels. Your perspective of time passes at almost 2x its speed while running, but once you stop, it’s as if your mind is still racing, but your body is not. This is what creates the buffer; it’s the decreased demand on the body, but heightened awareness of the mind.

“Runner’s High”—it’s the effect that exercise has on you the entire day after you work out. Most people exercise first thing in the morning because that high lasts the entire rest of the day. Your metabolism gets kick-started as well, your body primed to take on more load once given that first dose. This is a known phenomenon of running and exercise. It’s part of the supercompensation process that makes you stronger after a stress response, provided that you take some days off to rest and reap the benefits.

Ultra cockroach

We don’t stop moving because we get old… We get old because we stop moving…

Use exercise to jump-start your mind, body, and metabolism, creating a buffer against the stress the world is guaranteed to throw at you. This is a hard you choose versus a hard you don’t. When challenges arise that you don’t choose, your body is stronger, your mind sharper, and your responses are wiser because you have prepared yourself. You are inoculated against stress because you have encountered it before, and the cockroach of stress is squashed under the bouncing sole of your foot before it has a chance to affect you.

Ultra Lizard Brain

Ultra Lizard Brain

Published by Patrick Durante on January 12, 2025

I was listening to a podcast about how the lizard brain is still inside us. It developed first, and the larger brain grew from there. The lizard brain can’t speak, and it’s primal. Since it doesn’t communicate with words, it needs basic things and operates on a simple level with less complexity. I started wondering if there’s a better way to live—one that caters more to that lizard brain—in an attempt to make life simpler, be happier, and reduce anxiety or depression. After all, anxiety and depression are often byproducts of a brain that tries to live in the future or ruminate on the past.

So, what does this lizard brain need? Let’s get real basic with it. The lizard needs sunlight, connection with other lizards, natural and simple food, the ability to run from predators, rest, and the chance to do it all again. When you put it like that, it all sounds so simple! The problem is that when this lizard starts interacting with things unnatural to its basic, primal needs, it begins to suffer. The lizard doesn’t care about what car it drives or its social status—it just uses its feet to get from point A to point B. The lizard doesn’t care what its house looks like or what clothes it wears—it’s always butt naked!

Remember, we’re only focusing on basic survival and self-preservation needs here. I’m not trying to add any unnecessary complexity. The lizard just wants to see tomorrow, maybe find a mate, and, if it’s lucky, see some offspring. So, what do I need to give it, day after day, to make sure it keeps moving forward?

As I dug into this idea more, I realized that the lizard brain is always in the moment. It can’t handle an abundance of time—it’s not sitting still long enough to catch the latest episode of its favorite TV show. If it did, it would get eaten.

When I’m running ultras, I feel like I go into lizard brain mode. I’m running from predators, I’m fueling, and I’m just being present in the mile and the moment. I try to force my brain back to simpler times. During a race, there are always unknowns, and the advanced brain doesn’t like that. But the lizard brain thrives in simplicity—it understands clear actions and conditions. The lizard brain wants training it’s seen before, food it’s eaten before, and even shoes for its lizard feet that it’s used before. The lizard brain doesn’t like “new.” It fears the unknown.

To thrive, the lizard brain needs simple, day-to-day living. Run the lizard. Feed the lizard real, alive food. Move the lizard. Get the thinking out of it. The lizard only worries about today—not the past or the future. It takes action on what it can control, not on what Sally the lizard receptionist in accounting thinks about it. Complexity kills—in design, in training, and in making life reproducible.

The lizard brain evolved in the wild, in the forest—not in the city. It needs to get back to nature. Feeling the sun, wind, rain, and dirt connects the lizard runner back to its primal instincts. It thrives in its original environment, where it can roam in wide-open spaces.

The lizard also loves to struggle with its support network of other lizards, training with others who are doing the same thing. The camaraderie of enduring difficult challenges together strengthens bonds and reinforces the lizard’s purpose. The cheering crowds, pacers, and aid stations during a race let the lizard know it’s not alone in this fight for survival.

The basics work for a reason—that’s what I’m saying here. We’ve broken away from simple daily habits that our brains need to function. Where can I remove complexity when it doesn’t need to exist? That’s the core principle of success.

The lizard brain also needs a problem to solve. It thrives on overcoming obstacles and is hardwired to conquer challenges to survive. The lizard brain doesn’t binge-watch Netflix. It gets out and does things. The trail is our survival scenario—a life-or-death struggle, both physically and mentally. This struggle gives the lizard brain a sense of purpose and validation.

The lizard brain wants one task—a single focus. That’s what ultrarunning does: it gives you one task, with the sole purpose of putting one foot in front of the other. The lizard brain can’t multitask, and anyone who says they can is just doing multiple things poorly instead of one thing well.

The lizard brain also pushes through pain. It actually loves pain as a feedback mechanism, using it as a tool to modify behavior. Pain tells the lizard when to slow down, adjust its form, eat more, or take a break. That’s a core survival ability: the ability to endure enough to see another day.

Above all, the lizard brain needs a reason to keep going. It needs a clear goal, like a finish line, where it can be rewarded. The lizard thrives on the satisfaction of being tested, pushed to its limits, and becoming something more than its current self.

So, the lizard brain needs its basic fuel, rest, safety, movement, connection, and purpose. Ultrarunning, in many ways, strips life down to these core elements and satisfies the primal brain’s instincts while aligning them with a modern challenge—with guardrails in place to keep it manageable. We might not like it, but it’s all very simple. I see this when I watch squirrels or other mammals surviving in the wild. This all runs through my mind as I sit watching out my window with my plethora of problems, while they live in the moment, just trying to survive.

I sit on my couch worrying about a future that might never come or a past that doesn’t matter. I need to get back to simpler times. Simple. How do I just make it simple? What would this look like if it were easy? That’s always the question to ask yourself.