Seventh

I don’t get why you’d want to do that

That’s very extreme

That sounds horrible

You’re crazy

That’s what I tend to hear when I say I’m voluntarily training to run 100 miles in the mountains… in (hopefully) less than 30 hours - the cut off point of the Leadville 100 Run. Sure, it’s extreme. Maybe I am crazy.

But here’s the thing. I love running outside in the mountains and I also believe balance (although it has it’s time in place) might be a little bit overrated.

I’ve come to truly believe we, as humans, need to take risks and go to extremes to grow, to understand our full potential and to feel alive.

If that’s enough for you to understand running 100 miles than you can stop reading here. If you need more convincing… here's my attempt.

“It’s truly a necessity to have a passion as a compass in life.”

~ Hilaree Nelson

Balance and Extremes

“Ever since I can remember, I’ve been told to strive for balance. Yet I’ve noticed something interesting: The times in my life during which I’ve felt happiest and most alive are also the times that I’ve been the most unbalanced. It’s not just me. Nearly all of the great performers I’ve gotten to know - from athletes to artists to computer programmers to entrepreneurs - report a direct line between being happy, fulfilled and at their best and going all-in on something.”

~ Brad Stulberg, author of The Practice of Groundedness

I got so excited when I saw this instagram post from Brad Strulberg. Because I’ve been told the same thing, ‘strive for balance’. But when I look at people I admire… I don’t necessarily see it.

When we find something we are passionate about, whether it be a sport, a job, a craft or a cause, we are motivated to dive head first into it. All in. If we’re lucky enough to find something that excites us so much, we are driven to put time and energy into that thing.

Now we don’t all become our passions, nor should we. Life requires some diversity and we can not just drop everything for something that we enjoy. We still have to work and fulfill social obligations. However, I think it’s important that we prioritize these things in life that make us feel alive and fulfilled.

Most people who excel at what they are passionate about have gone through years at a time obsessed with one idea or goal. I would call these periods of their lives very ‘extreme’. Extremes are where we push our limits, expand our capabilities.

It’s in the extreme periods of life where we often fail and subsequently grow.

As Ken Chlouber, founder of the Leadville Trail 100 put it -

“You’re better than you think you are. You can do more than you think you can.”

I wouldn’t throw balance out the window though.. A lot of life seems to follow an ebb and flow pattern, or at least I’ve started to see it this way. And with periods of excitement and extremes, there are also periods of slowing down and resting. When I say periods, I’m thinking of examples that go from days to months to years to decades depending on the person and the situation.

So ultimately, when we are looking at life through a zoomed-in lens, as we often tend to do, balance is a bit overrated when you find a passion. When we step back, and view life through a wider lens and look at a person’s whole life span, balance is something I think is necessary. When we cycle through periods of extremes in life, it’s almost unavoidable that we also cycle through periods of recharging and refocusing. It seems all periods are valuable and should be embraced as they come.

So for now, life will become a little extreme with running. No one who completes a 100 mile race would say that you can train any other way than running a lot. At the most extreme will be weeks that consist of 75-100 miles in addition to working a full time job on my feet, I honestly won’t have time to balance much else other than running and work. And I’m very very excited about those weeks, as hard as I think they will be. And I don't think I'd be looking forward to the risks and the hard parts so much if it wasn't something I was passionate about.

“I think there’s so much aversion to risk taking. I don’t think that’s the right direction we should be going, you have to take risks if you want to learn anything about yourself. If you want to expand the self imposed walls we put around ourselves. I think that’s what’s interesting to me about us as a species… that’s how we move forward, how we create things, how we have ideas; by taking risks and being a little different, or being passionate about something.”

~ Hilaree Nelson

I love running, but there’s more to it than that…

As much as I love to run, I don’t expect it to feel good all the time. I don’t expect to be motivated all the time. I expect obstacles, and some very very tough moments that will make me want to quit. I expect there to be many moments where I ask myself the same questions others have asked me… ‘why am I doing this, this is horrible’ ‘am I crazy?’.

“When you’re chasing a big goal, you’re supposed to feel good a third of the time, okay a third of the time, and crappy a third of the time… and if the ratio is roughly in that range, then you’re doing fine”

~ Alexi Papas recounting her coach’s advice during the Rio Olympics

Personally, when my running is good, it’s great. When it’s bad, I still have never regretted a run.

And the fact that it’s not good all the time is important. That mentality to keep pushing through and showing up even when things don’t feel 100% (or even 50%) is important. Resilience, perseverance, consistency, problem solving, relentless forward motion - these are what make goals so fulfilling. This is where I’m learning to use my mind to help ,e when things don’t feel great versus letting it drag me down into a hole and quitting. These are all skills that I have learned more from running and climbing more than anything else in my life.

My mantra when the going gets tough? “You’re fine. This is fine. Everything is fine. Keep moving.”

~ Courtney Dauwalter

This mindset, to go out and do hard things, to lean into the process of training more than focusing on the outcome of the race, to keep going when things go wrong, to not get bogged down by inconveniences… that’s something that is really important Both in running long distances and also important in life in general.

Experienced ultra runners almost always expect things to go wrong, rarely have I heard someone say ‘I expect for this to be my perfect race’. Even if it is and they wind up winning the whole thing.. This way, when inevitably something unplanned happens, they have to address problems right away, learn and adapt and keep moving. I’ve had some moments like this on training runs and in races. When I keep moving and use this mindset… that's always a pretty empowering feeling.

So, to wrap it up...

Am I scared for the Leadville 100 run in August?

Yes, of course. I’ll probably get more scared as we get closer.

Do I think there will be times that I want to give up, that it seems too hard?

100%. I think that’s the only thing that I am positive about. That there will be times I want to quit, that things will hurt, and that things will go wrong.

So why do it?

To see if I can. To grow, to be challenged, to learn my own mental and physical limits. To feel the energy of he mountains and the people who show up to be there too. To be fully present for 100 miles... through the ups and downs.

At the end of the day, that legendary belt buckle alone you get when you finish, is not enough motivation to cross the finish line for me. It’s about the whole process. The training, the consistency, the road bumps, the figuring things out. So, maybe it is crazy. If it is, then I think I like some crazy.

You are only limited to what you push yourself to, you know? You can always get better.

-- Lindsey Vonn