41. Choosing a Race You’ll Stay Committed To
Choosing a race is easy. Staying committed to it when things get hard is not. In this episode, I’m breaking down why so many smart, capable runners sign up for races they end up dropping, and why the problem usually starts long before race day.
I walk you through exactly how I make race decisions as a mindset coach, using a real example from my own recent race choice at Across the Years. I show you how I narrowed my options, evaluated what mattered most, and paid attention to how each option felt emotionally, not just logically. This process helped me choose a race I could fully commit to, even with injury and uncertainty in the mix.
If you’ve ever found yourself coasting, quitting, or losing interest mid-race, this episode will help you understand why. More importantly, it will give you a clear framework for choosing races that energize you instead of draining you, so when things get hard, you actually want to keep going.
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What You’ll Learn from this Episode:
Why logical race choices often fail when things get difficult.
The difference between a race that looks smart and one you will stay committed to.
How to narrow down race options without getting overwhelmed.
Why emotional investment matters more than safety when choosing a race.
How fear of failure can actually be a sign of real commitment.
The role planning plays in turning a risky choice into a grounded one.
How to choose races that give you fuel instead of excuses.
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Full Episode Transcript:
Why do smart runners sign up for races that they end up dropping? The problem often starts way before race day in how you make the decision to sign up in the first place. Today, I'm walking you through exactly how I make race decisions as a mindset coach, so you can avoid the trap of signing up for races you won't stay committed to. I'm going to show you what to do instead.
Welcome to Unstoppable Ultra Runner, the podcast for ultra runners who refuse to let anything hold them back. I’m your host, Susan Donnelly, veteran of over 150 100-mile races, and a coach who helps runners like you break through mental roadblocks, push past doubt, and run with confidence. Let’s go.
Welcome to episode 41. Today, we're going to talk about something I help clients with all the time: making race decisions that stick. Last month, I made my own tough decision between two race options, and I got a lot of questions about it. So I thought it would be valuable to walk you all through exactly how I made this decision as a mindset coach because it's probably different from the way you're making these decisions, and you might be surprised by the process.
Because here's what I see happen all the time. A runner signs up for a race. It made sense at the time. They were gung ho about it. It looked good on the website, maybe their friends were doing it, maybe somebody told them they should do it, or it just seemed like the logical or easiest next step. Whatever the reason, then race day comes and things get hard, as they do in an ultra. And suddenly, in the middle of the race, the runner's just not invested anymore. They say, "I just don't care. And that's okay. I'm not having fun. I'm not in it today." So they coast in or they drop, and afterwards, no matter what they said, it still feels bad. They wish they hadn't signed up for the race or that they'd signed up for something different.
Or even worse, they use this experience to make sweeping judgments about themselves, like: maybe I'm not a good ultra runner, or the distance just isn't for me, or I'm burned out and I need a break. But here's what's really happening when you do this. You didn't make a decision that you were committed to. You made a decision that looked smart. It looked right, so right on paper, but you had no real investment in it, no skin in the game. And when things got tough in the actual race, you had no fuel to push you through that to the finish.
So today, I'm going to show you how to make race decisions you'll actually stay committed to, decisions that create the fuel you'll need when the race gets hard. I'm going to walk you through exactly how I did this for my recent race at Across the Years in Arizona. But first, I need to give you some background to give you context for the decision.
Across the Years is an easy option for me because I'm already in the area visiting my mother and sister for the holidays. Now the race starts several days before the end of the year. This is December, and it ends in the first few days of the new year, hence the name, Across the Years. Now, this race isn't my usual thing, but I love going to it because it is so fun. It's like a race vacation for me. There are so many people doing so many different races, and everybody is doing it all together that feels so good. Every day, some people are starting their race and some people are ending theirs. There's so much going on.
And it's like a 1.4-mile loop, so it's incredibly social. That means I get to see and spend time with friends I rarely get to see in person anymore. Some, I only get to see and spend time with there. That's my main why for doing the race: people. The race lasts six days, and there are multiple race options within those six days. You can run on several different fixed timed options. You can run the whole six days, you can run 72 hours, 48 hours, 24 hours, 12 hours, and even six hours. There are also some fixed distances. You can run 200 miles, you can run 100 miles, and you have two options for when you start the 100 miles. So theoretically, you could actually run two separate 100-mile races while you're there. And there's even a marathon that starts every day, so you could conceivably run six marathons while you're there, which I've actually seen people do.
There's even a last-person-standing version. There are so many race options there. There's one for everybody. And I've done several options there already over the years, always a little longer every year. I think I started at six hours, and then I went to 24, and then I think I've done 48 there before. Because it's just harder and harder for me to leave every time in the middle of all the fun everybody's having. It honestly wouldn't surprise me someday to end up in the six-day race. But anyway, this year I was injured. And because of that, and because so much of the course currently is concrete, I firmly decided that whatever I was going to sign up for, I was going to walk it. That was my condition for doing the race, taking care of myself while doing it. And that's the background information you need. So on to the decisions.
I say decisions because deciding which race to do took multiple decisions. It was actually a three-step process. The first decision was to narrow down the many options, the options I just listed off for you, so I could focus on the top contenders. There were just so many options, I needed to weed out the noise. I needed to weed out the options that I just clearly didn't want to run. And to do that, I started with my primary constraint, which was how long I'd be at the race instead of spending time with my mother and sister, which is the real reason I was out there.
This year though, I had flown out there earlier and I was staying later on purpose so I could spend more time at this race and still spend plenty of time with my family. So I actually had more choices. So what I did was I went through the entire list of races that I gave you earlier and I tried on the idea of running each option, starting with the six days. And the answer to that was definitely not. I just didn't want to deal with all the infrastructure and all the complexity that would take, as fun as it sounds.
Next up was the 72 hours. And that was like, not bad, but kind of meh. There was no real pull with that one. It just didn't create any excitement in me. The idea of seeing how many miles I could rack up in three days of walking just didn't feel enticing. It would be okay, and if it had been the only option, I definitely would have gotten hyped up about it and been happy to do it, but I figured I could do better. So, next was to consider the 24-, 12-, and six-hour races, and those were all out because I've done those before, and those were actually why I wanted to spend more time at the race this year. So I just wanted more than that.
Next up was the 200-mile option, and that was definitely out because even if I could walk 200 miles within the cutoff time, I hadn't been running for a month. And as tempting as it was, I had committed to take care of my body, and doing that definitely wasn't taking care of my body. That was actually pushing too hard right now. Plus, I didn't want to spend the rest of my time with my mother and sister recovering from the race. And being injured wasn't a way I wanted to try my first last-person-standing race. And I definitely, if I was doing that race, I definitely wouldn't be there as long as I wanted to be at the race. So that option was a complete big nope.
That left the 48-hour option and the 100-mile race. Now, the idea of 48 hours had been floating around in my mind for a couple of days, and it felt like the right, smart, intuitive decision, what most people would call a gut decision. But here's the thing about gut decisions. Making decisions is hard. It's ridiculously uncomfortable because you're giving up options. You're making commitments, and you don't know how they'll work out. So your brain will grab any easy answer it can find to make a decision and exit the decision-making process as fast as possible. Now, I know that, and I'm in charge, not my brain, and I wanted to make an intentional decision here, not a snap decision, gut or otherwise.
So there was one other remaining option: the 100 mile. And I was going to check it out for myself, even if I decided to go with the 48-hour race after all. That would help me be peaceful about whichever decision I made and commit to it with no second guessing. And cleaned out the noise and clutter of the other options. Now I needed to make a second decision between the 48 hours and the 100 miles. Both could be right. So it was time to get into detail. I grabbed a piece of paper. Actually, I'm looking at it right now as I record this podcast, and I put two columns on it: 48 hours on the left and 100 miles on the right.
And then I asked myself, why do I want to run the 48-hour version? And here's what I wrote down in that column. I can do as much as I want. I can go by how my body feels. There's no pressure to hit a specific target. I can't DNF because technically, if you finish one lap, you have a finish. I couldn't fail. I don't even have to think about pace. And it's a good balance of time between my family and my friends at the race. And I haven't gotten to 100 miles since March, months and months ago. So at this point in December, I'm not sure how my body is actually going to do, injured. So this lets me step toward that and find the answer. What was holding me back? Virtually nothing. There was zero downside to it. The 48 hours was the obvious right answer. But I know to make a full, intentional decision. So I asked the same questions of the 100-mile version.
All right, why did I want to do the 100-mile race? Well, I could finally get another 100-mile finish after two DNFs and the frustration of being injured. That would feel really good, even if it was my first walking 100-mile. And I had plenty of time on the cutoff, 72 hours on the cutoff. And even if I DNF'd, a DNF wouldn't kill me. And the day I was making the decision, I was feeling better. And now that could have changed the next day, but I always love writing the momentum of a good feeling day, and that day I was feeling pretty good.
Now, what was holding me back from the 100-mile race? Three glaring reasons. First, I didn't know if I could go that far injured. I hadn't been running for literally a month. I mean, really not hardly even walking. I was taking a break to let things calm down. So I had no idea what my body could actually do, what it could handle. Second, spending 48 hours at the race felt great. But 72, the full cutoff that was very luxurious, actually felt like too much time. I mean, if I did the 100, I'd actually want to fit it into 48 hours, which made it the same time commitment as the 48-hour race, but with the added chance of failing at it, which made absolutely no sense. And third, I really didn't want to DNF, especially at such an easy race, especially one I was there to enjoy. There was no reason to put myself through that.
So that was the equation on paper, and the 48-hour race version was the clear winner, no contest. But there was one final important step: checking the emotion I felt for each option. Now, why emotion? Because emotion is what makes a race fun or a chore. It's what drives us or stops us. It's the fuel that gets you to the finish line or stops you short. Ultra running is intensely emotional, and smart runners use that to their advantage. So here's what I did. I sat back, I looked at all my answers, and I imagined how I'd feel emotionally doing each race.
First up was the 48-hour race. If I was doing that, I'd be happy to be there. I'd be spending time with friends and being at a race, which is glorious. I could do whatever I wanted and feel great about it. I'd get plenty of miles in with no stress. I didn't want to try to get 100 miles in 48 hours, but 100k would be satisfying. Next up, the 100-mile race. If I was doing that, how would I feel? Challenged, pushed, a little worried, maybe stressed. Having that commitment in my head could distract me from spending time with my friends and focusing on time with them, which is why I was there. I couldn't do whatever I wanted and finish. I had a cutoff, so I could fail. And I definitely didn't want to DNF at an easy race, especially when I had a perfectly good 48-hour race I could succeed at instead.
And then something unexpected happened. When I sat with it, the possibility of failure actually felt enticing, irresistible, exciting. I wanted that. It made me feel alive. I wanted something to reach for. I craved it. A goal to aim for, one that meant something to me? Going for a 100-miler again would definitely mean something to me.
So there I was, looking at my two columns, and logic clearly said, "Choose the 48-hour race. It's the smart choice. It's the safe choice. You can't fail." But the possibility of failure in the 100, the thing that should have made me choose the 48-hour race, that's exactly what made me want the 100. The thing that should have scared me away was exactly what made it irresistible. And it's the exact reason I wanted to do it. So the fact that I could fail, which definitely doesn't look good on paper, made the 100-mile option the most exciting one. And the reason I chose to commit to it instead of shying away from it.
What I wrote at the bottom of the 100-mile option was, "Who cares if I don't finish? I'd rather give myself the shot. See if I can solve problems enough and take it easy enough to pull it off." And I never would have discovered this if I hadn't tried on each race emotionally and imagined what it would actually feel like to do each of them. But there's one more step I took, and this was to make my decision the right decision. This is the commitment part. Like this puts you past waffling. I planned how I was going to do it.
I sketched out a super simple plan. I'd do approximately half the distance in the first 24 hours and half in the second. I'd take breaks to let my body process the mileage and stay out of rhabdo territory, since I was definitely going to be out of shape. I'd take naps if I wanted, and then I'd linger around and leave midday the third day at my leisure. I mean, worst case, I could run into that third day's lingering time. I didn't have to panic or rush, so I definitely had a plan B for finishing. It was still a reach, but I could definitely picture myself doing the 100. It was possible, even injured. And with that, I entered the 100.
Now, when I got to the actual starting line, my decision was confirmed. I was so much more excited than I would have been just spending 48 hours there. I mean, feeling race excitement and reaching for a goal that seemed just a little beyond my reach was exactly what I needed in that moment. I spent time with everybody I could at the race. I got to hang out with my friend Robert, who was doing the six-day, more than I usually get to spend time with him. I had a long conversation with Ann Trason.
I got her to autograph my race number, and later on, she asked me to autograph hers. I got to see runners I used to see at Massanutten way back in the day and catch up on life with friends I hadn't seen since this race last year. I got to watch a dad doing his first 100-mile while his 15-year-old son did his first 100k and do a couple of laps alone in the quiet of the night with my own thoughts and celebrate dawn twice, two things I love in hundreds. And I finished the 100-mile race. I got the buckle, and I broke the DNF chain.
So, here's what I want you to take away from this story. Decisions you make before the race create the fuel you'll have during the race. If you make a decision that's purely logical, that makes sense on paper but doesn't energize you, you won't have the fuel when things get hard. You're far more likely to coast in or drop because you were never really invested in it. But if you make a decision that works logically and excites you emotionally, that's a decision you'll stay committed to. That excitement, that feeling, that emotion becomes the fuel that pushes you through when logic runs out.
And here's how to do it in summary. Use logic first to narrow down your options if you need to. Eliminate what clearly won't work based on your constraints. Then write out the top contenders you're choosing between and ask yourself why you want to do each one and what's holding you back from each. But don't stop there.
This is the step that runners miss all the time. Check how each of those options feels emotionally. Imagine yourself at the race. Imagine what it will feel like doing it. Pay attention to which one creates energy and excitement in you, even if it's the one that looks riskier or harder. Then choose the option that energizes you. Plan how you're going to do it and how you're going to solve for the things that are holding you back, and then commit to it and make it happen. Because the race that excites you is the one you'll stay committed to when things get hard.
All right. That's this week's episode. Thanks for listening. If you know someone who could use this, share it with them. It might be exactly what they need to hear. See you all next week. Bye.
Thanks for listening to Unstoppable Ultra Runner. If you want more ultra talk, mindset tools, and strategies for running with confidence, visit www.susanidonnelly.com. This podcast receives production support from the team at Digital Freedom Productions. That’s it for today’s episode. See you next week.
Welcome to Unstoppable Ultra Runner, the podcast for ultra runners who refuse to let anything hold them back. I’m your host, Susan Donnelly, veteran of over 150 100-mile races, and a coach who helps runners like you break through mental roadblocks, push past doubt, and run with confidence. Let’s go.
Welcome to episode 41. Today, we're going to talk about something I help clients with all the time: making race decisions that stick. Last month, I made my own tough decision between two race options, and I got a lot of questions about it. So I thought it would be valuable to walk you all through exactly how I made this decision as a mindset coach because it's probably different from the way you're making these decisions, and you might be surprised by the process.
Because here's what I see happen all the time. A runner signs up for a race. It made sense at the time. They were gung ho about it. It looked good on the website, maybe their friends were doing it, maybe somebody told them they should do it, or it just seemed like the logical or easiest next step. Whatever the reason, then race day comes and things get hard, as they do in an ultra. And suddenly, in the middle of the race, the runner's just not invested anymore. They say, "I just don't care. And that's okay. I'm not having fun. I'm not in it today." So they coast in or they drop, and afterwards, no matter what they said, it still feels bad. They wish they hadn't signed up for the race or that they'd signed up for something different.
Or even worse, they use this experience to make sweeping judgments about themselves, like: maybe I'm not a good ultra runner, or the distance just isn't for me, or I'm burned out and I need a break. But here's what's really happening when you do this. You didn't make a decision that you were committed to. You made a decision that looked smart. It looked right, so right on paper, but you had no real investment in it, no skin in the game. And when things got tough in the actual race, you had no fuel to push you through that to the finish.
So today, I'm going to show you how to make race decisions you'll actually stay committed to, decisions that create the fuel you'll need when the race gets hard. I'm going to walk you through exactly how I did this for my recent race at Across the Years in Arizona. But first, I need to give you some background to give you context for the decision.
Across the Years is an easy option for me because I'm already in the area visiting my mother and sister for the holidays. Now the race starts several days before the end of the year. This is December, and it ends in the first few days of the new year, hence the name, Across the Years. Now, this race isn't my usual thing, but I love going to it because it is so fun. It's like a race vacation for me. There are so many people doing so many different races, and everybody is doing it all together that feels so good. Every day, some people are starting their race and some people are ending theirs. There's so much going on.
And it's like a 1.4-mile loop, so it's incredibly social. That means I get to see and spend time with friends I rarely get to see in person anymore. Some, I only get to see and spend time with there. That's my main why for doing the race: people. The race lasts six days, and there are multiple race options within those six days. You can run on several different fixed timed options. You can run the whole six days, you can run 72 hours, 48 hours, 24 hours, 12 hours, and even six hours. There are also some fixed distances. You can run 200 miles, you can run 100 miles, and you have two options for when you start the 100 miles. So theoretically, you could actually run two separate 100-mile races while you're there. And there's even a marathon that starts every day, so you could conceivably run six marathons while you're there, which I've actually seen people do.
There's even a last-person-standing version. There are so many race options there. There's one for everybody. And I've done several options there already over the years, always a little longer every year. I think I started at six hours, and then I went to 24, and then I think I've done 48 there before. Because it's just harder and harder for me to leave every time in the middle of all the fun everybody's having. It honestly wouldn't surprise me someday to end up in the six-day race. But anyway, this year I was injured. And because of that, and because so much of the course currently is concrete, I firmly decided that whatever I was going to sign up for, I was going to walk it. That was my condition for doing the race, taking care of myself while doing it. And that's the background information you need. So on to the decisions.
I say decisions because deciding which race to do took multiple decisions. It was actually a three-step process. The first decision was to narrow down the many options, the options I just listed off for you, so I could focus on the top contenders. There were just so many options, I needed to weed out the noise. I needed to weed out the options that I just clearly didn't want to run. And to do that, I started with my primary constraint, which was how long I'd be at the race instead of spending time with my mother and sister, which is the real reason I was out there.
This year though, I had flown out there earlier and I was staying later on purpose so I could spend more time at this race and still spend plenty of time with my family. So I actually had more choices. So what I did was I went through the entire list of races that I gave you earlier and I tried on the idea of running each option, starting with the six days. And the answer to that was definitely not. I just didn't want to deal with all the infrastructure and all the complexity that would take, as fun as it sounds.
Next up was the 72 hours. And that was like, not bad, but kind of meh. There was no real pull with that one. It just didn't create any excitement in me. The idea of seeing how many miles I could rack up in three days of walking just didn't feel enticing. It would be okay, and if it had been the only option, I definitely would have gotten hyped up about it and been happy to do it, but I figured I could do better. So, next was to consider the 24-, 12-, and six-hour races, and those were all out because I've done those before, and those were actually why I wanted to spend more time at the race this year. So I just wanted more than that.
Next up was the 200-mile option, and that was definitely out because even if I could walk 200 miles within the cutoff time, I hadn't been running for a month. And as tempting as it was, I had committed to take care of my body, and doing that definitely wasn't taking care of my body. That was actually pushing too hard right now. Plus, I didn't want to spend the rest of my time with my mother and sister recovering from the race. And being injured wasn't a way I wanted to try my first last-person-standing race. And I definitely, if I was doing that race, I definitely wouldn't be there as long as I wanted to be at the race. So that option was a complete big nope.
That left the 48-hour option and the 100-mile race. Now, the idea of 48 hours had been floating around in my mind for a couple of days, and it felt like the right, smart, intuitive decision, what most people would call a gut decision. But here's the thing about gut decisions. Making decisions is hard. It's ridiculously uncomfortable because you're giving up options. You're making commitments, and you don't know how they'll work out. So your brain will grab any easy answer it can find to make a decision and exit the decision-making process as fast as possible. Now, I know that, and I'm in charge, not my brain, and I wanted to make an intentional decision here, not a snap decision, gut or otherwise.
So there was one other remaining option: the 100 mile. And I was going to check it out for myself, even if I decided to go with the 48-hour race after all. That would help me be peaceful about whichever decision I made and commit to it with no second guessing. And cleaned out the noise and clutter of the other options. Now I needed to make a second decision between the 48 hours and the 100 miles. Both could be right. So it was time to get into detail. I grabbed a piece of paper. Actually, I'm looking at it right now as I record this podcast, and I put two columns on it: 48 hours on the left and 100 miles on the right.
And then I asked myself, why do I want to run the 48-hour version? And here's what I wrote down in that column. I can do as much as I want. I can go by how my body feels. There's no pressure to hit a specific target. I can't DNF because technically, if you finish one lap, you have a finish. I couldn't fail. I don't even have to think about pace. And it's a good balance of time between my family and my friends at the race. And I haven't gotten to 100 miles since March, months and months ago. So at this point in December, I'm not sure how my body is actually going to do, injured. So this lets me step toward that and find the answer. What was holding me back? Virtually nothing. There was zero downside to it. The 48 hours was the obvious right answer. But I know to make a full, intentional decision. So I asked the same questions of the 100-mile version.
All right, why did I want to do the 100-mile race? Well, I could finally get another 100-mile finish after two DNFs and the frustration of being injured. That would feel really good, even if it was my first walking 100-mile. And I had plenty of time on the cutoff, 72 hours on the cutoff. And even if I DNF'd, a DNF wouldn't kill me. And the day I was making the decision, I was feeling better. And now that could have changed the next day, but I always love writing the momentum of a good feeling day, and that day I was feeling pretty good.
Now, what was holding me back from the 100-mile race? Three glaring reasons. First, I didn't know if I could go that far injured. I hadn't been running for literally a month. I mean, really not hardly even walking. I was taking a break to let things calm down. So I had no idea what my body could actually do, what it could handle. Second, spending 48 hours at the race felt great. But 72, the full cutoff that was very luxurious, actually felt like too much time. I mean, if I did the 100, I'd actually want to fit it into 48 hours, which made it the same time commitment as the 48-hour race, but with the added chance of failing at it, which made absolutely no sense. And third, I really didn't want to DNF, especially at such an easy race, especially one I was there to enjoy. There was no reason to put myself through that.
So that was the equation on paper, and the 48-hour race version was the clear winner, no contest. But there was one final important step: checking the emotion I felt for each option. Now, why emotion? Because emotion is what makes a race fun or a chore. It's what drives us or stops us. It's the fuel that gets you to the finish line or stops you short. Ultra running is intensely emotional, and smart runners use that to their advantage. So here's what I did. I sat back, I looked at all my answers, and I imagined how I'd feel emotionally doing each race.
First up was the 48-hour race. If I was doing that, I'd be happy to be there. I'd be spending time with friends and being at a race, which is glorious. I could do whatever I wanted and feel great about it. I'd get plenty of miles in with no stress. I didn't want to try to get 100 miles in 48 hours, but 100k would be satisfying. Next up, the 100-mile race. If I was doing that, how would I feel? Challenged, pushed, a little worried, maybe stressed. Having that commitment in my head could distract me from spending time with my friends and focusing on time with them, which is why I was there. I couldn't do whatever I wanted and finish. I had a cutoff, so I could fail. And I definitely didn't want to DNF at an easy race, especially when I had a perfectly good 48-hour race I could succeed at instead.
And then something unexpected happened. When I sat with it, the possibility of failure actually felt enticing, irresistible, exciting. I wanted that. It made me feel alive. I wanted something to reach for. I craved it. A goal to aim for, one that meant something to me? Going for a 100-miler again would definitely mean something to me.
So there I was, looking at my two columns, and logic clearly said, "Choose the 48-hour race. It's the smart choice. It's the safe choice. You can't fail." But the possibility of failure in the 100, the thing that should have made me choose the 48-hour race, that's exactly what made me want the 100. The thing that should have scared me away was exactly what made it irresistible. And it's the exact reason I wanted to do it. So the fact that I could fail, which definitely doesn't look good on paper, made the 100-mile option the most exciting one. And the reason I chose to commit to it instead of shying away from it.
What I wrote at the bottom of the 100-mile option was, "Who cares if I don't finish? I'd rather give myself the shot. See if I can solve problems enough and take it easy enough to pull it off." And I never would have discovered this if I hadn't tried on each race emotionally and imagined what it would actually feel like to do each of them. But there's one more step I took, and this was to make my decision the right decision. This is the commitment part. Like this puts you past waffling. I planned how I was going to do it.
I sketched out a super simple plan. I'd do approximately half the distance in the first 24 hours and half in the second. I'd take breaks to let my body process the mileage and stay out of rhabdo territory, since I was definitely going to be out of shape. I'd take naps if I wanted, and then I'd linger around and leave midday the third day at my leisure. I mean, worst case, I could run into that third day's lingering time. I didn't have to panic or rush, so I definitely had a plan B for finishing. It was still a reach, but I could definitely picture myself doing the 100. It was possible, even injured. And with that, I entered the 100.
Now, when I got to the actual starting line, my decision was confirmed. I was so much more excited than I would have been just spending 48 hours there. I mean, feeling race excitement and reaching for a goal that seemed just a little beyond my reach was exactly what I needed in that moment. I spent time with everybody I could at the race. I got to hang out with my friend Robert, who was doing the six-day, more than I usually get to spend time with him. I had a long conversation with Ann Trason.
I got her to autograph my race number, and later on, she asked me to autograph hers. I got to see runners I used to see at Massanutten way back in the day and catch up on life with friends I hadn't seen since this race last year. I got to watch a dad doing his first 100-mile while his 15-year-old son did his first 100k and do a couple of laps alone in the quiet of the night with my own thoughts and celebrate dawn twice, two things I love in hundreds. And I finished the 100-mile race. I got the buckle, and I broke the DNF chain.
So, here's what I want you to take away from this story. Decisions you make before the race create the fuel you'll have during the race. If you make a decision that's purely logical, that makes sense on paper but doesn't energize you, you won't have the fuel when things get hard. You're far more likely to coast in or drop because you were never really invested in it. But if you make a decision that works logically and excites you emotionally, that's a decision you'll stay committed to. That excitement, that feeling, that emotion becomes the fuel that pushes you through when logic runs out.
And here's how to do it in summary. Use logic first to narrow down your options if you need to. Eliminate what clearly won't work based on your constraints. Then write out the top contenders you're choosing between and ask yourself why you want to do each one and what's holding you back from each. But don't stop there.
This is the step that runners miss all the time. Check how each of those options feels emotionally. Imagine yourself at the race. Imagine what it will feel like doing it. Pay attention to which one creates energy and excitement in you, even if it's the one that looks riskier or harder. Then choose the option that energizes you. Plan how you're going to do it and how you're going to solve for the things that are holding you back, and then commit to it and make it happen. Because the race that excites you is the one you'll stay committed to when things get hard.
All right. That's this week's episode. Thanks for listening. If you know someone who could use this, share it with them. It might be exactly what they need to hear. See you all next week. Bye.
Thanks for listening to Unstoppable Ultra Runner. If you want more ultra talk, mindset tools, and strategies for running with confidence, visit www.susanidonnelly.com. This podcast receives production support from the team at Digital Freedom Productions. That’s it for today’s episode. See you next week.
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