Becoming Fearless

The way to become fearless may not be what you think.

You don’t do it by forcing yourself to gut out the race.

You don’t do it by trying harder not to be afraid of the race

You do it by feeling what you're scared to feel if the race doesn't go the way you planned.

It’s not about action - it’s about feeling.

When you're willing to feel the emotions behind things - like the discomfort of running a lot of miles, failure of missing cutoff, anger at yourself for dropping, or embarrassment about being last - the fear disappears.

Take my Wild Duluth experience for example.

I was partway through the Midwest’s Gnarly Bandit Series when I decided to register for Moab 240.

The only catch was Moab finished the week leading up to the last race in the series - Wild Duluth 100k. I’d have barely enough days to drive from Moab to Duluth.

Moab seemed way more important…until I finished and was facing Wild Duluth and the end of the series.

I’d put in a lot of work in to get to the end of the Gnarly Bandit - Zumbro 100, Kettle Moraine 100, Black Hills 100, Superior 100, and only had Wild Duluth 100k left.

On the drive to Duluth, I started getting nervous. What if I couldn’t do it? 

I didn’t want to think about it. I’d be fine.

I started the out-and-back race talking with my friend John. My legs surprised me by being fine but after several miles I suddenly remembered the race had tight cutoffs. Fighting a tidal wave of fear, I told John I had to run on…as it started raining.

I pushed pace but couldn’t stay upright in the slick mud and lost time on cutoff every section. 

By the halfway turnaround, I was soaked in mud, defeated and knew I had to find a different mindset to keep going. Fear was making me miserable and want to give up.

So as I started on the return, I faced what I feared. I relaxed and stopped resisting all the loss, disappointment, embarrassment, judgment, and failure I thought I’d feel if I didn’t finish. 

Once I felt all those worst case scenario feelings, I knew I could handle them. I had nothing to fear and it vanished.

My whole attitude changed. It left me calmly determined to do my best…and excited about it.

I ran hard - no holding back - and still got pulled at the very last aid station with only 8.8 downhill-ish miles left to the finish. 

What I feared, happened. I was disappointed but it wasn't as big a deal because I’d already faced the potential disappointment and knew I’d run well.

From the fear of everything to lose, to the fearlessness of nothing to lose.

To this day, it’s one of the races I’m most proud of.

If you’re worried about an upcoming race, think about why and what you don’t want to feel - and feel it now - ahead of time. 

You’ll see its just a feeling and you can handle it.

If this skill is something you want to master, I can definitely help.

It’s one I’ve used regularly to finish 134 100-mile races and three 200-mile races.

Email me to set up a consult call and let’s talk about how we’d help you build that same skill.