What Game Are You Playing?

The long-term success and joy you get in ultrarunning depends on the game you’re playing.

Two specific games came up in client sessions this week.

The first and most popular is, “Make the race turn out the way it’s supposed to.”

In this game, you’re supposed to finish, or finish competitively. Anything else is a failure.

A DNF isn’t supposed to happen. If you drop or get pulled, you did something wrong.

There’s no room to excel. You either get the result you’re supposed to, or fail. There’s also nothing to celebrate. At best, you achieve what’s expected of you.

You spend a lot of energy trying to control everything to avoid failure - crew, pacers, food, even over-checking the weather.

The finish you want is the only acceptable outcome - you have a lot to lose.

This was last year’s Superior 100. Among other things, it would finally be my 20th finish there…and I’d waited two pandemic years to do it. A lot to lose.

I focused so hard on making the finish happen that in the last half of the race, I literally lost my ability to focus my mind on what I was doing and on reality in a way that’s never happened before, and almost didn’t finish (another blog post for another day).

I would rather have played the second game, “Commit 100% to run what’s possible.”

In this game, a DNF is a real possibility. You might need to drop and you might get pulled.

If you can accept that - not just know it in your head but accept it like death and taxes - you no longer have to fear or fight against it. It’s just there.

You’re free and can shift your focus from avoiding failure to running the best you can.

Which opens up all kinds of possibility.

(Note that running what’s possible doesn’t mean run all-out until you puke. It means all possibilities are on the menu - more than just “finish or DNF.”)

You have no expected finish to protect. You have nothing to lose.

This was my first Superior 100 (and first 100) way back in 1999. I had only the vaguest idea what I was doing and what it would be like.

I had no expectation other than doing my best.

My only plan was to see how far I could get. I wanted to see as much of the trail as I could.

Every mile and section I completed delighted me…and to my amazement, no one stopped me. They kept letting me go.

So I did, all the way to the finish, which I’d forgotten to even consider (what does one do when finishing a 100??).

It was way more fun and sustainable in the long term than making the race turn out “right.”

And it’s why I started running ultras in the first place - for the fun, amazing possibility of it.

So I highly recommend looking at whether the game you’re playing is the one you want.

And if it’s not, I can help you change it.

Use this link to set up a consult call and let’s talk about where you are in running and how to get you where you want to be.

You deserve to spend your running years playing the game you really want.