Walk Away Stronger: How to Gain Confidence From a DNF

One weekend in July, three clients faced three of the toughest mountain 100-mile races in the sport.

None of them finished but all of them accomplished more than that and walked away with the massive jump in confidence you’d think comes only from finishing.

Here’s the five things they did to make that happen.

1. Risk Big on Themselves

They willingly chose huge races.

Palisades 100 - Idaho. 22,000’ gain/loss. 95% single track, 5% dirt road. Highest elevation, 9500’, lowest 5650’. 36 hour cutoff. 44% finish rate in 2024.

High Lonesome 100 - Colorado. 24,000’ gain/loss. 66% single track, 27% mining road, 7% gravel/dirt road. Highest elevation 13,100’, lowest 8700’. 36 hour cutoff. 41% finish rate in 2023.

Tahoe Rim Trail 100 - Nevada. 18,410’ gain/loss. Mostly single track, some jeep road. Highest elevation 9,214’, lowest 4888’. 35 hour cutoff. 70% finish rate in 2024.

Even with the clear chance for a DNF, they made the decision and accepted the risk.

We coached through fear and doubt, and none of them wanted to change their minds. 

They wanted something big for themselves and were willing to go for it, risk and all.

2. Create a Winning Race Plan

Next, they committed to do everything they could to up their chances of finishing, which meant training their best around injuries, illnesses, and life circumstances like work and family commitments. It wasn’t always ideal but they knew they could make the training they’d done work.

Then they went all in on planning because even if you train perfectly, you’ve got to know what to do with it to finish.

We spent many coaching sessions drafting their plans, filling in details, and anticipating failure points to design custom race plans they knew would work. They had a roadmap that made finishing possible.

3. Don’t Give Up

In the race they did more than ‘keep going.’

As you might expect, they faced multiple invitations to drop out for nausea, fatigue, mental lows, unexpected physical problems, thinking they were last, losing on cutoff - and refused them all.

Two were pulled for time and the other dropped for an unfixable medical injury - all between 70 and 85 miles.

None of them quit on themselves. All three would have kept going if they had the choice.

4. DNF Like a Pro

After the race, we used my evaluation process to pull all the learning, good and bad, from their race.

They gathered a ton of lessons because they knew this is how they improve faster with every race.

5. Keep Going

For all three, the DNF is disappointing and that’s worth processing, but it’s almost a small detail. It’s not the title of their story.

None of them quit running, felt the need for ‘redemption,’ or decided they did’t belong in ultrarunning.

It’s the opposite. All three are already applying the lessons they learned on big, exciting new challenges. 

And though they may not have the buckle, all three reported the same, more priceless reward...

Being able to look back at the work they did for themselves and all they accomplished with awe and confidence.

A buckle can’t create that feeling - you do.

As one reflected, “I am so proud of everything I did to stand with myself.” 

Another summed it up with satisfaction, “I got to run the race I wanted to run.”

And the third said, “I knew I wasn’t going to make the 11am cutoff but thought I owe it to myself to keep going. I want to at least see what I can do. I didn’t come here to sit. I came to run as much in the 36 hours as I can.”

“I’m not leaving in defeat, I’m ending on a strong note.” 

“I did what I said I’d do.”