43. Loop Courses: How to Run Loops Without Dreading Them
Loop courses get a bad reputation fast. Almost every time a runner tells me they’ve signed up for one, the very next thing they say is, “But what if I get bored?” And I get it. I used to avoid loop courses myself because I thought repeating the same terrain over and over would drain my energy and motivation. The idea of passing my car every lap and feeling like I wasn’t going anywhere felt intimidating before I even started.
In this episode, I break down why boredom feels like such a threat in loop races and why the usual strategies runners rely on, like gritting it out or distracting themselves, actually make the experience harder. I explain how assuming a loop course will be boring creates the problem you’re trying to avoid, and why expecting boredom turns your race into something you’re constantly defending against instead of engaging with.
You’ll learn three powerful ways to rethink loop courses so they work for you instead of against you. I show you how each lap can serve a different purpose, why boredom itself isn’t the enemy you think it is, and how you can actively create an experience that’s challenging, meaningful, and even fun. If you’ve been hesitant to sign up for a loop race, or you’ve struggled in one before, this episode will change how you think about them entirely.
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What You’ll Learn from this Episode:
Why boredom feels like such a big threat in loop course races.
How expecting a loop course to be boring actually creates the problem.
Why gritting it out or distracting yourself makes loop races harder, not easier.
How each lap serves a different purpose in your race.
Why boredom isn’t something you need to fear or avoid.
How sameness and predictability can become an advantage in a loop course.
Practical ways to actively make a loop race engaging and meaningful.
Listen to the Full Episode:
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Full Episode Transcript:
Worried your loop race will be boring? It doesn't have to be, and that's completely within your control.
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 43, Loop Courses. I can't tell you how many times a client signs up for one and within the first few minutes of our session says, "But what if I'm bored?" It doesn't matter if it's two big loops or lots of small ones, a fixed-time race, multiple loops in a 100-miler, a last-person-standing format, I hear it across the board. It's the first thing I hear. And the common thread is loops and boredom. And I totally get it. I used to avoid this race format like the plague. It just wasn't my thing. I wanted to get out and explore a course, see scenery, run through the forests and mountains, not repeat a bunch of tiny loops.
So, it's natural to worry about it. You're going to be running the same circle for hours, looking at the same things over and over. It's hard. It's an ultra. You're pushing your body, you're suffering, and on top of that, it feels like you're going nowhere. Plus, every lap, you pass your car. The easiest exit in the world. One that many of us have experienced even if only in training. So, we all know how that temptation feels. So yeah, boredom can legitimately feel like your biggest challenge and obstacle in a loop race.
So let's look at what most runners try first. The first thing runners automatically do is figure that they're going to grit their way through it. It's the most common solution to anything when you don't know what to do in an ultra. Grit is ultra running's answer to everything. We're sold that idea constantly. So of course, when you're worried about boring loops, this is the first thing you try, willing your way through them. But here's how that actually turns out. You start the race fine. You're excited. It's a new day. There's all this potential ahead of you. But once you settle into a rhythm and the loops start feeling familiar, you know, they're not so new anymore and you've seen the course once or twice, you remember to worry about boredom. Surely, it's about to set in any moment now.
So you look around on this loop. Yeah, you've seen everything already. So you could definitely be getting bored on this loop. And you check yourself inside. You're starting to feel bored. You're sure of it. And you're so sure it's a problem that you're actually feeling, that you actually imagine it into being one. Now that it's a problem, the only thing you can do is fight against it. You're worrying every step. Am I getting too bored? Should I stop at the car this time? Should I avoid it altogether? You can finish a race this way, but here's the problem. It's not fun. This approach uses a ton of mental energy that will eventually wear you out. When you decide it's boring and then spend the whole race fighting that boredom, you turn the race into a tedious endurance chore that you can't wait to be done with.
So that's one thing we do. The other thing that we automatically default to is defending against the boredom ahead of time by distracting ourselves. Anything not to feel an ounce of boredom. You look outside basically for ways to distract yourself from what's happening inside you. You find music, a playlist, a pacer, podcasts, other runners, anything to distract yourself from what you're feeling. The problem with this approach, though, is that, yes, it lets you tune out the miles and the loops, but you also tune out the experience. You put your mind on something else while you're just basically waiting out the time and the miles until you're done.
Which raises another question. If the race isn't interesting enough to experience, the very definition of boring, then why are you there in the first place? And also, you can't focus on a race plan if you're distracting yourself from what you're doing. Yes, you might survive that way, but you won't have much to remember, and it's not going to be the best race you could run.
So, gritting it out and distracting yourself, they're both just survival strategies. They might get you through a race, but they don't make you stronger. You don't grow from that. You don't build confidence. And they definitely get in the way of your best performance. What's worse than that? They actually reinforce your fear of boredom. Both approaches confirm the very thing that you're worried about, that loop courses are indeed boring and something to be feared. So now with those, you're stuck on the defensive the entire race. So let's clear the board of these defensive approaches and start completely fresh.
Let's look at loop courses for a second. Loop courses, whether fixed time or fixed distance, are just a specific kind of course layout. They're no better and no worse than point-to-point, out-and-back, single loop, spaghetti bowl, or any other layout. And listen, we can find a way to worry about every single one of those course layouts. Believe me, I've either done it myself or I've heard it from clients. Every course layout can be feared in one way or another. But in reality, none of them are actually easier or harder than another until you decide that they are.
The real issue here is that you're assuming loops will be boring. And I know it's an easy assumption to make. You've probably heard, before you even did a loop course, you probably heard other ultrarunners say, like, loop courses are boring, like it's a fact. And on paper, it makes sense. So, think about it for a moment. Did you actually decide for yourself that this was true, that loop courses were boring? Or did you just kind of accept it because other runners said it? Either way, once you assume that loop courses are boring, you can see exactly why a loop course is going to be boring. And when you expect it to be a problem, it becomes one. That's the trap. Anticipating boredom feels like smart preparation, but it's actually what creates the problem that you're trying to avoid in the first place.
So instead, here are three powerful ways to completely reframe how you think about loop courses.
The first one is, question whether it's actually going to be boring. Because that's just a prediction your brain is making. Your brain is finding something to worry about based on what people say and what you've experienced before and the way it looks on paper. And the answer to the question is, it might not be boring at all. Just because it's loops doesn't mean it will be. We don't actually know until we get in the race. You've worried about the boredom like all through training, looking at all the reasons that you're sure it'll be boring. But what about the reasons it won't be boring? Here's one. Every lap is new. Every lap is a different time of day, different people around you, different function in your race. Like the first lap, you're learning the course. The 20th lap, you get your second set of 10 laps done. Your 21st lap, you start your third set of 10 laps. Each lap serves a different purpose.
Take Havasu 100. You run six laps in that race, but the sun hits the desert that you're running through differently throughout the day. So you notice different things in the scenery each time around, things you didn't see the last lap. And then the night loop is completely different. You see lights far off in the distance where you didn't even notice houses or roads during the day. And then there's a slice of bright, brilliantly bright light that you only see at night through a gap in the mountains. It's the lights of nearby Phoenix. It is like a blazing light. You don't notice it during the day because it's just all mountain colored. So you only see that at night. And at night, you hear coyotes and the desert smells differently at night. The point here is that each lap is new if you see it that way.
Here's another way that the race might not actually be boring. Is it going to be actually boring the whole race? Or maybe just parts of it? When you really think about it, instead of generalizing that I'm going to be bored the whole time, the first couple of loops probably won't be boring. You're getting to know the course. And the last couple of loops definitely won't be boring either. You're on your way to finishing. You might be pushing for a goal. So even if the race is boring, the boring part isn't the whole thing. And building on that, each lap is a new challenge. It sets you up to run the next loop a little bit better and the next one a little bit better than that.
Once you know the course, you know where you can shave off some seconds next time around or some minutes, or where you can run that you didn't think you could before. How to extend the running section just a few yards more before you walk? What to expect at the aid station? So you're in, getting what you need and getting right back out instead of scanning the food table around the first time to see what you might want. Your aid stations can be faster. You get to refine and perfect your approach each lap.
At Run Under the Stars, for example, a 12-hour race here in my town, it's a 1.23-mile lap. And when I'm not talking to a friend, I like to experiment with running a few yards further into sections I normally walk, or see how many loops I can get in an hour just for the fun of it. I push myself in different ways to see how I can run the loops better or more sustainably. Or ask yourself, this is a really good question, what about the race isn't going to be boring? Maybe it's the people. That's what I look forward to at Across the Years, a multi-day race on a 1.42-mile loop course. Maybe it's how quickly things change across the loop. In my mind, on that course, each loop at Across the Years goes through 12 distinct sections that change character fast, one to the next. What's around the next turn? Around the next turn?
There's always something different happening in each section of each lap. Always people from different race options coming and going over my 72 hours there. Even the food at the aid station changes multiple times over those three days. It is so fun to come into the aid station and look at the menu board and think like, what's going to be on the menu this time? And it's always something different. So, it's a small loop, you do many times, but that race is definitely not boring.
The second way to reframe how you think about loops is that even if the loops are boring, is that actually a problem? Before you react to this question and yell out, "Of course," really think about it. Play around with that in your mind. Why isn't boring a problem? We dread feeling bored because we expect it to feel intolerable, like being trapped with no escape from your own mind. You think you want to get out of your head, not be stuck in it. You won't know what to do in there with all that sameness over and over. It's like a trap. It'll be torture, a mind desert.
You're going to spin out. But flip that expectation around. What's the advantage of being bored? Or running a boring course? Think about a time in your life when you've been bored, like on a long car trip. What was it really like? How might that actually be wonderful in a race? I think it's peaceful. It's predictable. There are fewer unknowns to manage. You could relax a little bit more. You can afford to daydream since you don't have new course coming at you every step, rocks and roots and trees and climbs. You have time and brain space to think things through.
You can focus on your racing instead of course navigation or what's coming up in the next section. Like runners on point-to-point courses worry about having to stay focused constantly. You don't have that pressure here. And you don't have to worry about navigation once you've done that first lap or two. Actually, the uncertainty that tortures you on any other course is far less on a loop course. Once you've run that first lap, you have a solid expectation of how the rest of the course will be for you. Sameness is an asset.
And if you do experience some boredom, you can tolerate it like you do on that long car trip. There will be periods where you're bored and periods where you're not. That happens in any format. Experiencing some boredom doesn't mean the entire race is going to be boring. You can handle some boring stretches here and there. Besides, boredom really isn't a negative feeling, not one you can't handle anyway, not one to fear. It's just not exciting. And that actually might be a very good calming thing.
The third way to reframe how you think about loop courses is that you can find ways to make it not boring. That's within your control. And I'm not talking about distracting yourself from the boringness here. I'm saying you can actually make it not boring. Make it exciting, make it fun. You can turn it into the most exciting race ever if you want to. I did a little of that at Across the Years for myself. Like think about this. What's exciting about it? Counting down the laps? How is completing all these loops going to change you as a runner, as a person, and how you think of yourself? What will you now know that you're capable of?
What race in the future does this one make possible for you? And treats can work too. Reward yourself each lap or each couple of laps with something you're looking forward to. New socks after a 20-mile loop can be a really sweet thing. Or make it fun by playing loop games. See something new every loop. Talk to a new person every loop. Pick a theme song in your head for each loop. Unleash your creativity on it. The sky's the limit here.
At Umstead, the year I finally finished after dropping out the two previous years, I made it a game to find something new every loop that I'd never noticed before. It couldn't even be something that I'd noticed in the previous two years. This was just my personal challenge to myself, my game that I made up to make it fun. I didn't sit back and wait for the course to present me with something new. I had to actually look for the thing and find it like a scavenger hunt. This was my game and I was determined to win it. That really kept me on my toes too. I was surprised, relieved, and delighted to find something new for the first seven of the eight laps you do there. But that last eighth lap, I remember clearly starting that lap and worrying, I have seen all the new things I think I can find. Am I going to be able to do it this lap?
So, this eighth, final lap was the morning of the second day, and I had worked hard for definitely, exceptionally hard for the last two laps to find something new, and I had barely succeeded at the last part of the lap. I just squeaked in under the wire, basically. So how on earth was I going to find something new now on this last lap? What if I'd run out of new things? But then, as I was running through the most boring section of the course, where it was just brown, bare trees and leaves and nothing else, a section that I had definitely already combed for something new seven times through there, and one place that I just almost didn't even bother looking, that's when I spotted it.
A lone lily of all things sticking up out of the leaves. Like it must have been a leftover from an old homestead. I was astounded. Like, had it been there the day before and I just hadn't noticed it? Had it bloomed overnight? I busted out laughing because I'd found my thing where I least expected it. So now I'd found something every single lap. I'd won the game, and now I could enjoy finishing the race.
Clients have come up with amazing ideas here over the year. The sky, like I said, is the limit on this one. Use your creativity to make it fun and exciting.
So, those are three powerful options instead of surrendering to the fear of boredom. One, question whether it'll actually be boring in the first place. Every lap is new in some way, different light, different people, different function in your race, and even if parts are boring, it's probably only a small section of the whole race if it happens at all. Two, recognize that boring isn't the problem you've made it out to be. It's peaceful, predictable. It gives you mental space that you won't get on courses where you're constantly having to navigate new terrain.
The sameness becomes an asset, not a liability to fear. And three, you can actively make it not boring. Make it exciting by focusing on what completing these loops will prove to yourself. Make it fun by creating games and challenges. Remember how I said loops weren't my thing, that I avoided them like the plague? These three shifts completely changed that for me, and they can change it for you too. Remember, you're in control of the experience you create.
The bottom line here is that you're not helpless against boredom taking over your race. You've got three solid options. Challenge the assumption that it'll be boring. Embrace boring as an advantage. Or actively make it fun. Any of these will serve you far better than spending your whole race defending against a problem that doesn't have to exist in the first place. The choice is completely yours.
All right, y'all. 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 43, Loop Courses. I can't tell you how many times a client signs up for one and within the first few minutes of our session says, "But what if I'm bored?" It doesn't matter if it's two big loops or lots of small ones, a fixed-time race, multiple loops in a 100-miler, a last-person-standing format, I hear it across the board. It's the first thing I hear. And the common thread is loops and boredom. And I totally get it. I used to avoid this race format like the plague. It just wasn't my thing. I wanted to get out and explore a course, see scenery, run through the forests and mountains, not repeat a bunch of tiny loops.
So, it's natural to worry about it. You're going to be running the same circle for hours, looking at the same things over and over. It's hard. It's an ultra. You're pushing your body, you're suffering, and on top of that, it feels like you're going nowhere. Plus, every lap, you pass your car. The easiest exit in the world. One that many of us have experienced even if only in training. So, we all know how that temptation feels. So yeah, boredom can legitimately feel like your biggest challenge and obstacle in a loop race.
So let's look at what most runners try first. The first thing runners automatically do is figure that they're going to grit their way through it. It's the most common solution to anything when you don't know what to do in an ultra. Grit is ultra running's answer to everything. We're sold that idea constantly. So of course, when you're worried about boring loops, this is the first thing you try, willing your way through them. But here's how that actually turns out. You start the race fine. You're excited. It's a new day. There's all this potential ahead of you. But once you settle into a rhythm and the loops start feeling familiar, you know, they're not so new anymore and you've seen the course once or twice, you remember to worry about boredom. Surely, it's about to set in any moment now.
So you look around on this loop. Yeah, you've seen everything already. So you could definitely be getting bored on this loop. And you check yourself inside. You're starting to feel bored. You're sure of it. And you're so sure it's a problem that you're actually feeling, that you actually imagine it into being one. Now that it's a problem, the only thing you can do is fight against it. You're worrying every step. Am I getting too bored? Should I stop at the car this time? Should I avoid it altogether? You can finish a race this way, but here's the problem. It's not fun. This approach uses a ton of mental energy that will eventually wear you out. When you decide it's boring and then spend the whole race fighting that boredom, you turn the race into a tedious endurance chore that you can't wait to be done with.
So that's one thing we do. The other thing that we automatically default to is defending against the boredom ahead of time by distracting ourselves. Anything not to feel an ounce of boredom. You look outside basically for ways to distract yourself from what's happening inside you. You find music, a playlist, a pacer, podcasts, other runners, anything to distract yourself from what you're feeling. The problem with this approach, though, is that, yes, it lets you tune out the miles and the loops, but you also tune out the experience. You put your mind on something else while you're just basically waiting out the time and the miles until you're done.
Which raises another question. If the race isn't interesting enough to experience, the very definition of boring, then why are you there in the first place? And also, you can't focus on a race plan if you're distracting yourself from what you're doing. Yes, you might survive that way, but you won't have much to remember, and it's not going to be the best race you could run.
So, gritting it out and distracting yourself, they're both just survival strategies. They might get you through a race, but they don't make you stronger. You don't grow from that. You don't build confidence. And they definitely get in the way of your best performance. What's worse than that? They actually reinforce your fear of boredom. Both approaches confirm the very thing that you're worried about, that loop courses are indeed boring and something to be feared. So now with those, you're stuck on the defensive the entire race. So let's clear the board of these defensive approaches and start completely fresh.
Let's look at loop courses for a second. Loop courses, whether fixed time or fixed distance, are just a specific kind of course layout. They're no better and no worse than point-to-point, out-and-back, single loop, spaghetti bowl, or any other layout. And listen, we can find a way to worry about every single one of those course layouts. Believe me, I've either done it myself or I've heard it from clients. Every course layout can be feared in one way or another. But in reality, none of them are actually easier or harder than another until you decide that they are.
The real issue here is that you're assuming loops will be boring. And I know it's an easy assumption to make. You've probably heard, before you even did a loop course, you probably heard other ultrarunners say, like, loop courses are boring, like it's a fact. And on paper, it makes sense. So, think about it for a moment. Did you actually decide for yourself that this was true, that loop courses were boring? Or did you just kind of accept it because other runners said it? Either way, once you assume that loop courses are boring, you can see exactly why a loop course is going to be boring. And when you expect it to be a problem, it becomes one. That's the trap. Anticipating boredom feels like smart preparation, but it's actually what creates the problem that you're trying to avoid in the first place.
So instead, here are three powerful ways to completely reframe how you think about loop courses.
The first one is, question whether it's actually going to be boring. Because that's just a prediction your brain is making. Your brain is finding something to worry about based on what people say and what you've experienced before and the way it looks on paper. And the answer to the question is, it might not be boring at all. Just because it's loops doesn't mean it will be. We don't actually know until we get in the race. You've worried about the boredom like all through training, looking at all the reasons that you're sure it'll be boring. But what about the reasons it won't be boring? Here's one. Every lap is new. Every lap is a different time of day, different people around you, different function in your race. Like the first lap, you're learning the course. The 20th lap, you get your second set of 10 laps done. Your 21st lap, you start your third set of 10 laps. Each lap serves a different purpose.
Take Havasu 100. You run six laps in that race, but the sun hits the desert that you're running through differently throughout the day. So you notice different things in the scenery each time around, things you didn't see the last lap. And then the night loop is completely different. You see lights far off in the distance where you didn't even notice houses or roads during the day. And then there's a slice of bright, brilliantly bright light that you only see at night through a gap in the mountains. It's the lights of nearby Phoenix. It is like a blazing light. You don't notice it during the day because it's just all mountain colored. So you only see that at night. And at night, you hear coyotes and the desert smells differently at night. The point here is that each lap is new if you see it that way.
Here's another way that the race might not actually be boring. Is it going to be actually boring the whole race? Or maybe just parts of it? When you really think about it, instead of generalizing that I'm going to be bored the whole time, the first couple of loops probably won't be boring. You're getting to know the course. And the last couple of loops definitely won't be boring either. You're on your way to finishing. You might be pushing for a goal. So even if the race is boring, the boring part isn't the whole thing. And building on that, each lap is a new challenge. It sets you up to run the next loop a little bit better and the next one a little bit better than that.
Once you know the course, you know where you can shave off some seconds next time around or some minutes, or where you can run that you didn't think you could before. How to extend the running section just a few yards more before you walk? What to expect at the aid station? So you're in, getting what you need and getting right back out instead of scanning the food table around the first time to see what you might want. Your aid stations can be faster. You get to refine and perfect your approach each lap.
At Run Under the Stars, for example, a 12-hour race here in my town, it's a 1.23-mile lap. And when I'm not talking to a friend, I like to experiment with running a few yards further into sections I normally walk, or see how many loops I can get in an hour just for the fun of it. I push myself in different ways to see how I can run the loops better or more sustainably. Or ask yourself, this is a really good question, what about the race isn't going to be boring? Maybe it's the people. That's what I look forward to at Across the Years, a multi-day race on a 1.42-mile loop course. Maybe it's how quickly things change across the loop. In my mind, on that course, each loop at Across the Years goes through 12 distinct sections that change character fast, one to the next. What's around the next turn? Around the next turn?
There's always something different happening in each section of each lap. Always people from different race options coming and going over my 72 hours there. Even the food at the aid station changes multiple times over those three days. It is so fun to come into the aid station and look at the menu board and think like, what's going to be on the menu this time? And it's always something different. So, it's a small loop, you do many times, but that race is definitely not boring.
The second way to reframe how you think about loops is that even if the loops are boring, is that actually a problem? Before you react to this question and yell out, "Of course," really think about it. Play around with that in your mind. Why isn't boring a problem? We dread feeling bored because we expect it to feel intolerable, like being trapped with no escape from your own mind. You think you want to get out of your head, not be stuck in it. You won't know what to do in there with all that sameness over and over. It's like a trap. It'll be torture, a mind desert.
You're going to spin out. But flip that expectation around. What's the advantage of being bored? Or running a boring course? Think about a time in your life when you've been bored, like on a long car trip. What was it really like? How might that actually be wonderful in a race? I think it's peaceful. It's predictable. There are fewer unknowns to manage. You could relax a little bit more. You can afford to daydream since you don't have new course coming at you every step, rocks and roots and trees and climbs. You have time and brain space to think things through.
You can focus on your racing instead of course navigation or what's coming up in the next section. Like runners on point-to-point courses worry about having to stay focused constantly. You don't have that pressure here. And you don't have to worry about navigation once you've done that first lap or two. Actually, the uncertainty that tortures you on any other course is far less on a loop course. Once you've run that first lap, you have a solid expectation of how the rest of the course will be for you. Sameness is an asset.
And if you do experience some boredom, you can tolerate it like you do on that long car trip. There will be periods where you're bored and periods where you're not. That happens in any format. Experiencing some boredom doesn't mean the entire race is going to be boring. You can handle some boring stretches here and there. Besides, boredom really isn't a negative feeling, not one you can't handle anyway, not one to fear. It's just not exciting. And that actually might be a very good calming thing.
The third way to reframe how you think about loop courses is that you can find ways to make it not boring. That's within your control. And I'm not talking about distracting yourself from the boringness here. I'm saying you can actually make it not boring. Make it exciting, make it fun. You can turn it into the most exciting race ever if you want to. I did a little of that at Across the Years for myself. Like think about this. What's exciting about it? Counting down the laps? How is completing all these loops going to change you as a runner, as a person, and how you think of yourself? What will you now know that you're capable of?
What race in the future does this one make possible for you? And treats can work too. Reward yourself each lap or each couple of laps with something you're looking forward to. New socks after a 20-mile loop can be a really sweet thing. Or make it fun by playing loop games. See something new every loop. Talk to a new person every loop. Pick a theme song in your head for each loop. Unleash your creativity on it. The sky's the limit here.
At Umstead, the year I finally finished after dropping out the two previous years, I made it a game to find something new every loop that I'd never noticed before. It couldn't even be something that I'd noticed in the previous two years. This was just my personal challenge to myself, my game that I made up to make it fun. I didn't sit back and wait for the course to present me with something new. I had to actually look for the thing and find it like a scavenger hunt. This was my game and I was determined to win it. That really kept me on my toes too. I was surprised, relieved, and delighted to find something new for the first seven of the eight laps you do there. But that last eighth lap, I remember clearly starting that lap and worrying, I have seen all the new things I think I can find. Am I going to be able to do it this lap?
So, this eighth, final lap was the morning of the second day, and I had worked hard for definitely, exceptionally hard for the last two laps to find something new, and I had barely succeeded at the last part of the lap. I just squeaked in under the wire, basically. So how on earth was I going to find something new now on this last lap? What if I'd run out of new things? But then, as I was running through the most boring section of the course, where it was just brown, bare trees and leaves and nothing else, a section that I had definitely already combed for something new seven times through there, and one place that I just almost didn't even bother looking, that's when I spotted it.
A lone lily of all things sticking up out of the leaves. Like it must have been a leftover from an old homestead. I was astounded. Like, had it been there the day before and I just hadn't noticed it? Had it bloomed overnight? I busted out laughing because I'd found my thing where I least expected it. So now I'd found something every single lap. I'd won the game, and now I could enjoy finishing the race.
Clients have come up with amazing ideas here over the year. The sky, like I said, is the limit on this one. Use your creativity to make it fun and exciting.
So, those are three powerful options instead of surrendering to the fear of boredom. One, question whether it'll actually be boring in the first place. Every lap is new in some way, different light, different people, different function in your race, and even if parts are boring, it's probably only a small section of the whole race if it happens at all. Two, recognize that boring isn't the problem you've made it out to be. It's peaceful, predictable. It gives you mental space that you won't get on courses where you're constantly having to navigate new terrain.
The sameness becomes an asset, not a liability to fear. And three, you can actively make it not boring. Make it exciting by focusing on what completing these loops will prove to yourself. Make it fun by creating games and challenges. Remember how I said loops weren't my thing, that I avoided them like the plague? These three shifts completely changed that for me, and they can change it for you too. Remember, you're in control of the experience you create.
The bottom line here is that you're not helpless against boredom taking over your race. You've got three solid options. Challenge the assumption that it'll be boring. Embrace boring as an advantage. Or actively make it fun. Any of these will serve you far better than spending your whole race defending against a problem that doesn't have to exist in the first place. The choice is completely yours.
All right, y'all. 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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