Feel Better About Your Race in Minutes

Last weekend, I was running a 100-mile race and did something I’ve never done before - I dropped down to the 50-mile option.

It wasn’t what I showed up to do.

It got me wondering - what happens when you don’t feel good about your race?

Most immediately - and this is important - you feel a tidal wave of negative emotions.

Like disappointment. You had the perfect day to finish.

Or shame. You let everyone down.

And probably frustration. All the hours of training were wasted. 

When all that negative is coming at you, you’ll naturally try to avoid it.

As backward as it sounds, you can find yourself spinning in disappointment because it’s better than looking at the race and coming to the painful conclusion you failed, you’re not a real ultrarunner, or you cant run like you used to.

Disappointment doesnt feel good but it feels way better than painful.

As long as you’re spinning in disappointment, you don’t have to decide if the race was a win or fail. You can avoid the ugly truth.

But you also don’t learn or grow stronger from the race. And you’re likely to repeat the same things in your next race.

The real problem is being scared of what the race means about you.

I noticed I was spinning - How did I get here? Was it a fail or a win? - instead of deciding how I wanted to think about the race…and myself.

I wasn’t answering the questions - only asking them.

The simplest, most powerful thing you can do in this moment is shift your perspective from disappointment to curiosity.

You simply have to know how to shift from one emotion to another. 

Asking “how did I get here” from disappointment had been getting me nowhere…no answers.

I kept circling around to what was missing, mistakes, what didn't I do, what’s weak, what needs to get strengthened and fixed.

But when I asked the same question from curiosity, I was willing to look at everything because I truly wanted to know. 

That’s when I started getting answers…and they came fast.

I signed up for this race last minute. I wasn’t even sure I’d ironed out the hip and quad issues from Javelina. I happened to see the race on Ultrasignup and couldn’t resist an opportunity to grab a 100-mile race.

After all, I thought, I only ran 71 at Javelina three weeks ago, so I can totally fit in this in.

Plus, it was only 2 hours from home in a beautiful state park I hadn’t seen since I was in Girl Scouts, so this would be a cool full circle.

But how did I get on Ultrasignup to begin with? 

I was looking for a convenient race.

What kind?

And then I remembered - I was looking for a 5k turkey trot or maybe a 50k. Something fun, easy and low-stress to fit in my day.

I busted out laughing. This whole 100-mile thing started because I thought I might like to run a 5k turkey trot??

So…getting 50 miles blew away my 50k shopping limit?

I went for a race I wasn’t ready for but saw an opening for, because why not? I love that I’m willing to take opportunities instead of talk myself out of them.

I went from disappointed to feeling amused, happy and proud.

That’s the power of choosing your post-race emotion.