The Antidote to Fear

The antidote to fear is curiosity.

When I signed up for my first 100 mile race, Superior 100, I could have faced fear. 

The longest I’d run was 50 miles. I knew people ran 100-mile races but the distance was too immense to hold in my brain at one time, which was worrying. I had no idea what running 100 miles would be like or what could go wrong.

Not only that but I didn’t have a clue how to train for it or actually run it. But I’d been curious for years and wanted to find out.

I searched out every scrap of info I could find about what I needed to do and know. I guessed how to train and was eager to see if I was close to right.

On race day, I quickly ended up on my own. I was pretty sure I’d get something wrong and fully expected to get pulled but I wanted to get as far into the distance as I could and see as much around the next corner of the Superior Hiking Trail as I could before that happened - because I was so incredibly curious about the trail and this mysterious distance that I’d dreamed of for years. Now was my chance.

So at every aid station, I asked the volunteers if I could go on to the next section (Yes, honestly. Today, this makes me smile).

I loved discovering what was around the next turn in the trail. What was the wild north woods really like? Would I see a moose?

I wondered about my fellow 100-milers. Who were these people? Why did they run this race? What could I learn from them?

Section by section, they kept letting me go on. I couldn’t believe my luck but I was going to take it. What if maybe, just maybe, I could actually do the whole thing?

Before I knew it, I was awed to find myself running across the high school football field to the finish line of my first 100-mile race.

Thanks to curiosity.

It doesn’t stop there. What curiosity does for one race, it can do for ultrarunning as a whole. It’s the best emotion to run in if you want ultrarunning to be happy, non-burnout, and sustainable for years to come.

The problem with curiosity is that it looks weak and naive. 

We’re sold the romantic idea that a real, mentally tough ultrarunner is grim, impassive to pain, and working out demons. Or has a nonchalant, too-cool-for-school confidence.

And while these attitudes might help you push, you’re still pushing, and that takes work.

Curiosity is more powerful because it pulls you. It pulls you to discover what’s around the next bend, answer questions for yourself, and see if you can do it. Its pull can be irresistible enough to keep you moving instead of dropping.

It does the work and you can’t help but follow.

Switching from fear to curiosity doesn’t required magic or luck. All you need is a process like the one I teach my clients, and you can summon this superpower emotion at will. 

It’s a skill anyone can learn.

And wouldn’t training and races be more fun to run curious?