When the Race Stops Being Scary

Worried the race will be harder than you can handle?

It might be.

That’s a risk we take, every race.

Ahead of a race, you might wonder— will I go into this race, be way out of my depth, and end up not making it?

But you can’t answer that - the race hasn’t even started yet. You’re still days, weeks, or months away.

So the real question isn’t whether that possibility could happen. It’s whether you can accept it, if it does.

The answer: yes, you can.

You’ve had plenty of practice proving that. Life isn’t sunshine and daisies—it’s messy, unpredictable, and about 50/50. Good and bad. Wins and losses. Triumphs and losses. And yet, you keep going.

Ultrarunning is no different. There’s a myth that doing it “right” means finishing every race, every time. But just like life, sometimes you crush it, sometimes you don’t.

And once you accept that, something powerful can happen: the race stops being an intimidating opportunity to fail and starts becoming a puzzle to solve.

Here’s how. Instead of stressing about having to finish every race, you can shift your attention to a more interesting subject: “How can I tilt the odds in my favor? How can I push the ‘good’ part past 50/50—toward 60/40, even 80/20?”

That’s one of the thrills of ultrarunning—discovering how much you can shift that balance. Racing smarter. Training better. Building mental muscle. Expanding your capacity to adapt to discomfort and fatigue when the miles get brutal.

There will always be highs and lows, finishes and DNFs. But the joy is in seeing how far we can push the good, how we can shift the odds in our favor, how many moments we can turn into wins—even in the hardest races.

Life and ultrarunning are both 50/50. The joy is in tipping the balance.