How to Make Suffering Optional

Last weekend, I ran my third Run Under the Stars 12-hour race.

The race starts at 6pm Saturday and ends 6am Sunday - night miles.

It’s local and a perfect long run for Massanutten 100 three weeks later but I’d run it anyway for the easy, old school vibe and watching everyone go for their goals.

I wanted to get 40-45 miles while seeing friends and meeting new ones.

I expected it to be like previous years - enough of a challenge to be exciting but easily do-able. The miles would magically accumulate with little effort.

Except it didn’t go that way.

This time, every mile inched along. I didn’t see how I’d reach 40 miles - it was so far away.

“This will take forever.”

The race was going to require a lot more suffering than I thought and was not going to be the fun I expected.

I wondered how long I’d be able to last.

In this scenario, you could buckle down and grit it out, “This is just how its going to be today. I expected hard, and here it is.”

But you don’t have to.

You don’t have to accept this is just how it is - you can make it easier on yourself.

You can create a way of looking at the same distance and time that makes it easier to run, without all the suffering and wondering if you can make it.

Here’s how I did it in this example.

I tried several ideas that didn’t work but kept at it.

Then, somewhere in the 20-mile range, I noticed when I glanced at the lap tracking screen as I passed, I was focusing on the first two digits - the integers - of my mileage. The 23 of 23.80 miles.

Each lap was 1.19 miles so the decimals seemed inconsequential.

For several laps, the integer moved slowly - one for every lap.

So it felt like every lap was a mile and I’d have to do close to 40 laps, which I dreaded, to get 40 miles.

But every so often, the tiny decimals I’d been ignoring paid interest, kicking the integer up two miles. Each jump felt like a happy surprise.

I pulled out my phone and calculated this happened every six laps.

So now, I didn’t have to run what felt like 40 long laps. Knowing the interest was going to add up every six laps, in my mind I only had to run sets of six laps - and I’d get a reward!

Each lap now seemed like a great investment.

I relaxed because I knew I could make it (I did - 43.75 miles).

And instead of head down, gritting it out in my own world, I could pay attention to the race around me, cheer for other runners, and enjoy it more.

I still had the same mileage goal.

Nothing about the race changed.

All I did was change the way I saw the distance and time - and suddenly the race felt do-able and the suffering disappeared.

You can do this too.

Suffering is optional and you can have a better, stronger race without it.