Three Habits Tough Runners Leave in the Dust

Tough runners are stubborn.

Capable of enduring hardship.

Willing to take on impossible tasks.

Hard to tear away from their goal.

Laser-focused on where they’re going.

Intent on moving forward no matter what.

Up to the demands of the race…and down to business.

To them, bad habits are poisoned apples. Harmless on the surface but when you bite into one, it poisons your race.

Tough runners avoid them.

If you want to up your ‘tough,’ here are three bad habit to stop doing - now.

The first is blaming - finding fault with someone or holding them responsible for creating a problem.

Blame keeps you from improving.

The first blizzard year at Zumbro 100 (yes, there have been two), snow piled up each lap as the weather worsened and I got pulled when the RD stopped the race before my final lap. But some runners I ran with finished.

Instead of blaming the weather or the RD’s timing on stopping the race before I could leave on the last loop, which would be easy (how often do you get to blame something as ironclad as a blizzard?), I see my first slow loop in the mud as the cause. Had I been faster on that loop in case the weather turned bad, I would have been in good shape for a finish when it did.

Tough runners learn and get better at it.

The second bad habit is making excuses - “something offered as justification or as grounds for being excused.”

Excuses keep you in your comfort zone.

I avoid using age as an excuse for anything because it’s a slippery slope to using it for everything. It’s all-purpose. With age as an excuse, I could avoid doing anything tough or even uncomfortable, ever again.

I’d rather use age less than I can, not more.

The third is complaining - “to express grief, pain, or discontent.”

Complaining keeps that sad song playing over and over in your head, wearing an unhappy rut deeper every time.

It’s actually better to acknowledge and feel any grief, pain or discontent that come up in a race and let it out. Just don’t stay there.

Fifty-five miles into Massanutten 100 this year, I told my friend John Taylor I needed a moment to whine about my frustrating inability to get ahead of cutoff. But once done, I said, “Ok, that’s it - thanks for listening.”

Tough runners complain for a moment, and move on.

Finally. Three habits you can actually stop doing…to get tough.

If you weed them out now, before they affect any more of your miles or your life, you:

Set your stubbornness free.

Let your capability for enduring hardship come full force.

Make it easy to say ‘yes’ to impossible tasks.

Remove distractions from where you’re going and the goal at the end.

Keep yourself committed to moving forward no matter what.

Stay equal to the demands of the race…and down to business.

And make the voice in your head far more pleasant than poison apple.