2. How to Stay in the Race When Your Brain Wants Out
Have you ever found yourself in the back seat of a volunteer's car instead of running up that next hill, watching all the other runners continuing on in a race you trained months for? I have. But why do we drop from races, and how do we stay in the fight when finishing feels impossible?
You don't sign up for ultras just to quit halfway. You train for months with the intention of crossing that finish line. But when you're exhausted, cold, close to cutoff, and your brain starts building a compelling case for stopping, you need specific mental tools to help you keep going. That’s what this episode is all about.
This episode breaks down exactly why we drop from races and provides a practical framework to keep you in the race. I'll show you how to tap into your powerful "why" – not just as a concept, but as a feeling that can become stronger than the urge to quit. When you master this, you don't just finish races – you become the unstoppable ultra runner for whom giving up isn’t an option.
To celebrate the launch of the show, I'm going to be giving away a personalized, pre-recorded pep talk to three lucky listeners who follow, rate, and review the show. Click here to learn more and enter by May 2, 2025 at 11:59pm PT.
What You’ll Learn from this Episode:
How to identify when your brain is sabotaging your race with survival-based thinking.
Why we make decisions based on anticipated feelings rather than logical reasoning during ultras.
How to transform your "why" from a concept into a powerful emotional fuel source.
A simple tool for responding effectively when your brain tries to convince you to drop.
Listen to the Full Episode:
Featured on the Show:
To celebrate the launch of the show, I'm going to be giving away a personalized, pre-recorded pep talk to three lucky listeners who follow, rate, and review the show. Click here to learn more and enter by May 2, 2025 at 11:59pm PT.
Full Episode Transcript:
Looking up at the runners heading back up over 12,600-foot Hope Pass toward the finish of the Leadville 100, I knew in the pit of my stomach I'd made a horrible mistake. Because I wasn't heading up the trail with them. I was in the back seat of a volunteer's car, heading away from the course after dropping at mile 50. Same place, same reason as the year before.
This time though, something clicked. I knew deep down it wasn't my body that was making me stop, it was my mind. And in that moment, I made a decision. I was going to figure out how to solve this. Once and for all, I was never going to quit a race like this again.
Welcome to Unstoppable Ultra Runner, the podcast for ultrarunners 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 back to the podcast. I'm so glad you're here. Today we're digging into a tough but very important problem in ultra running: why we drop from races and how to stay in it when every part of your brain is telling you to drop. We don't sign up and train for months and show up to races just to quit. We sign up to finish, but to do that, we have to know how to keep going through the hard parts.
When you're hours into a race and exhausted, when it's dark and cold and you're close to cut off, when the aid station feels too comfortable, and when our brains start building a solid case for stopping. If you've ever dropped from a race or been close, this episode is for you.
Ultras are hard. That's the whole point. If they were easy, we'd be doing 5Ks every weekend and calling it good and saving ourselves a whole lot of time and effort. But what makes them especially hard isn't just the miles, it's the mental battle that kicks in right in the middle of the race when your brain starts sabotaging you. And this is where it gets real.
And we think we quit because we're not tough enough, but it's not about toughness. It's about wiring. It's not that you don't have what it takes to run ultras. It's not that you're just someone who quits. It's just that your brain, my brain, everybody's brain is wired for one goal: survival.
There are two truths going on in this moment that you need to know, that are going on in the background. The first is that we do things or we avoid doing things because of how we think they'll make us feel. We do things we think will feel good, and we avoid things we think will feel bad. If something sounds painful, uncertain, or emotionally uncomfortable, we tend to avoid it. If we think something will feel good, we're all in.
It really comes down to perception. Not the thing itself, but how we think about that thing. We do what we think feels good and we avoid what we think feels bad. In short, you're motivated by how you think something will feel. Like a concert. If you think it'll be fun, you'll go. If you think it's going to be an expensive, chaotic hassle, no thanks. Same concert, different thoughts about the concert, different feelings about the concert, different decision.
That's the first truth. The second truth is that your brain is biased for survival, not long-term goals or finish lines. It's constantly scanning for pain, risk, and uncertainty, which is basically ultramarathon running. And it will do its best to steer you away from those things toward safety, comfort, ease, and predictability. It has really good intentions. Survival is good. But this also means that it's pretty biased against ultras and continuing on in the race.
So, now that you know these two truths about your brain's wiring and that it's your brain, what does that wiring look like in a race? Looks like this. It looks like your brain running a cost-benefit analysis, comparing what it will cost you to keep going versus the benefit of going on. On one side of the equation, there's continuing on. It's what you're supposed to do, right? You're in a race, you're supposed to continue to the finish.
On the other side of the equation is the option to drop, and that's what your brain wants to do. It's telling you, "You're so tired, you have so far to go. It's just going to get harder. What if you get injured? What if you don't even finish?" And in the race, you're in the middle of that, in that moment, so you feel it right then, loud and clear. It's strong and it's real. Dropping would feel like an instant relief. It would instantly feel better. It would feel like stopping the suffering.
And it makes total logical sense, especially when you're not even sure that continuing is going to get you a finish. The benefit of quitting is immediate and it feels certain. But the benefit of continuing on, yeah, that's kind of way out there. It's distant. It's uncertain. It's kind of more of a concept. It's maybe even doubtful at that point that you could finish. And in the middle of the race, it's kind of a remote idea without a lot of feeling attached to it. You're supposed to want it, but kind of in the moment, you're hurting.
And as bad as you feel right now, the race, you think, is obviously just going to get harder and feel worse the further you go. So going forward, you're certain it's going to feel worse and maybe not even get you a finish. So, when your brain compares these two things in its cost-benefit analysis, it compares the expected pain of continuing with the sure relief of quitting. And quitting wins. Not because you're weak, not because you're not cut out for ultras, but because that option feels better in the moment.
It all comes down to how we think each option will feel. It's how we're wired. That's it. And of course, this is how heartbreak begins because hours or even minutes later, like me, your perspective changes and you realize you could have kept going, you might have finished, and now you'll never know. And that is a terrible feeling.
So, how do we shift the balance towards going on and continuing? How do you make going on feel better than dropping? Well, you use your why. And if you're not familiar with this term, it gets used a lot. If you're not familiar with this term, your why is the reason you signed up. It's the reason you trained. It's the reason you want to cross the finish line. It's why you're doing this. And I'm going to define it differently here. It's not just a reason, it's a feeling. It's the feeling that the reason creates.
Okay? We're going to use that feeling to keep going. And to do that, you need to do two things. The first is that you need to make that why, that feeling that is in the why, stronger and more rewarding and more meaningful than the short-term relief of quitting. And the second is you need to make that why very familiar. Because the more familiar it is to you, the easier it is to access it in your head when you're in the thick of a tough moment in the race.
And fortunately, there is one way to do both of these things at the same time. So, starting in training, don't just think about what you'll get if you finish. Don't just think about the buckle. Tap into the feeling of finishing. And when I say feeling, I mean emotional feeling. The emotional sensation in your body, that emotional buzz you feel in your chest and your gut, maybe even your face, that sense of pride and relief and joy, elation, that is the fuel that's going to get you to the finish line.
Spend time imagining it and how good it will feel. Imagine being within a mile of the finish. You know that after all these months of work, you're about to finally finish. You see the finish line coming into view and your heart lifts. People are cheering and clapping. This is the moment you have worked so hard for. The joy and relief of crossing that finish line after getting through all those tough spots and challenges and obstacles, in spite of all the fears and the doubts you had, you've done it.
You cross the line knowing you didn't quit. Even in all the moments in training and in the race when it seemed impossible and even delusional, you didn't quit. You feel proud, you feel strong, and you realize you're now somebody who's going to show up and keep going. You're now somebody who doesn't quit. You're now somebody who shows up to do hard things and does what they say they're going to do, no matter how the race is going or how tempted you might be to drop. Feel the confidence and pride that comes from that. Nothing can ever take that away from you. You earned it.
Then imagine telling your friends about the race later, signing up for your next big challenge, and having more options that you feel are open to you. And looking back on this race with pride instead of regret. That feeling, all those emotions, that is your why. That is your rocket fuel. Practice feeling it during training. Imagine it, daydream about that finish line, let yourself feel it, make it vivid, do it often, make it familiar.
Then, on race day when things get tough, it's easy to pull that feeling up like a powerful weapon. When your brain says, "Your feet hurt, you're tired, you're close to cut off, it is not your day. Just give it up and drop." You say, "Yeah, this is hard, but I want that finish more than I want the relief, or more than I want to quit. I want to look back and know I gave this everything. I want that memory, that version of myself."
And when you have a strong why, it helps you in all kinds of things. It motivates your training, it generally builds your confidence, it keeps you going in the race and in training when your brain tries to sell you comfort. It helps you push through excuses and doubt and pain. And obviously, it turns you into somebody who adapts and stays resilient instead of quitting. It's like your steady pacer, your anchor, your fuel.
Ultras are designed to test us. And when your why is stronger than the urge to quit, you don't just finish the race, you become the next version of yourself. You become the unstoppable ultra runner who doesn't give up. If this hits home for you, if you've been there in that drop zone mentally or physically, know this. You're not weak. You're not missing an ingredient everybody else has. You're human. And you can train your brain to stay in the race even when it wants out.
So practice your why. Make it powerful, make it vivid, make it feel ridiculously good. And use it the next time your brain says, "Let's stop," because that's when the real race begins.
Thanks for listening. If this episode helped, share it with a friend who's training for their next big race. And until next week, keep going. You've got this. 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.
This time though, something clicked. I knew deep down it wasn't my body that was making me stop, it was my mind. And in that moment, I made a decision. I was going to figure out how to solve this. Once and for all, I was never going to quit a race like this again.
Welcome to Unstoppable Ultra Runner, the podcast for ultrarunners 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 back to the podcast. I'm so glad you're here. Today we're digging into a tough but very important problem in ultra running: why we drop from races and how to stay in it when every part of your brain is telling you to drop. We don't sign up and train for months and show up to races just to quit. We sign up to finish, but to do that, we have to know how to keep going through the hard parts.
When you're hours into a race and exhausted, when it's dark and cold and you're close to cut off, when the aid station feels too comfortable, and when our brains start building a solid case for stopping. If you've ever dropped from a race or been close, this episode is for you.
Ultras are hard. That's the whole point. If they were easy, we'd be doing 5Ks every weekend and calling it good and saving ourselves a whole lot of time and effort. But what makes them especially hard isn't just the miles, it's the mental battle that kicks in right in the middle of the race when your brain starts sabotaging you. And this is where it gets real.
And we think we quit because we're not tough enough, but it's not about toughness. It's about wiring. It's not that you don't have what it takes to run ultras. It's not that you're just someone who quits. It's just that your brain, my brain, everybody's brain is wired for one goal: survival.
There are two truths going on in this moment that you need to know, that are going on in the background. The first is that we do things or we avoid doing things because of how we think they'll make us feel. We do things we think will feel good, and we avoid things we think will feel bad. If something sounds painful, uncertain, or emotionally uncomfortable, we tend to avoid it. If we think something will feel good, we're all in.
It really comes down to perception. Not the thing itself, but how we think about that thing. We do what we think feels good and we avoid what we think feels bad. In short, you're motivated by how you think something will feel. Like a concert. If you think it'll be fun, you'll go. If you think it's going to be an expensive, chaotic hassle, no thanks. Same concert, different thoughts about the concert, different feelings about the concert, different decision.
That's the first truth. The second truth is that your brain is biased for survival, not long-term goals or finish lines. It's constantly scanning for pain, risk, and uncertainty, which is basically ultramarathon running. And it will do its best to steer you away from those things toward safety, comfort, ease, and predictability. It has really good intentions. Survival is good. But this also means that it's pretty biased against ultras and continuing on in the race.
So, now that you know these two truths about your brain's wiring and that it's your brain, what does that wiring look like in a race? Looks like this. It looks like your brain running a cost-benefit analysis, comparing what it will cost you to keep going versus the benefit of going on. On one side of the equation, there's continuing on. It's what you're supposed to do, right? You're in a race, you're supposed to continue to the finish.
On the other side of the equation is the option to drop, and that's what your brain wants to do. It's telling you, "You're so tired, you have so far to go. It's just going to get harder. What if you get injured? What if you don't even finish?" And in the race, you're in the middle of that, in that moment, so you feel it right then, loud and clear. It's strong and it's real. Dropping would feel like an instant relief. It would instantly feel better. It would feel like stopping the suffering.
And it makes total logical sense, especially when you're not even sure that continuing is going to get you a finish. The benefit of quitting is immediate and it feels certain. But the benefit of continuing on, yeah, that's kind of way out there. It's distant. It's uncertain. It's kind of more of a concept. It's maybe even doubtful at that point that you could finish. And in the middle of the race, it's kind of a remote idea without a lot of feeling attached to it. You're supposed to want it, but kind of in the moment, you're hurting.
And as bad as you feel right now, the race, you think, is obviously just going to get harder and feel worse the further you go. So going forward, you're certain it's going to feel worse and maybe not even get you a finish. So, when your brain compares these two things in its cost-benefit analysis, it compares the expected pain of continuing with the sure relief of quitting. And quitting wins. Not because you're weak, not because you're not cut out for ultras, but because that option feels better in the moment.
It all comes down to how we think each option will feel. It's how we're wired. That's it. And of course, this is how heartbreak begins because hours or even minutes later, like me, your perspective changes and you realize you could have kept going, you might have finished, and now you'll never know. And that is a terrible feeling.
So, how do we shift the balance towards going on and continuing? How do you make going on feel better than dropping? Well, you use your why. And if you're not familiar with this term, it gets used a lot. If you're not familiar with this term, your why is the reason you signed up. It's the reason you trained. It's the reason you want to cross the finish line. It's why you're doing this. And I'm going to define it differently here. It's not just a reason, it's a feeling. It's the feeling that the reason creates.
Okay? We're going to use that feeling to keep going. And to do that, you need to do two things. The first is that you need to make that why, that feeling that is in the why, stronger and more rewarding and more meaningful than the short-term relief of quitting. And the second is you need to make that why very familiar. Because the more familiar it is to you, the easier it is to access it in your head when you're in the thick of a tough moment in the race.
And fortunately, there is one way to do both of these things at the same time. So, starting in training, don't just think about what you'll get if you finish. Don't just think about the buckle. Tap into the feeling of finishing. And when I say feeling, I mean emotional feeling. The emotional sensation in your body, that emotional buzz you feel in your chest and your gut, maybe even your face, that sense of pride and relief and joy, elation, that is the fuel that's going to get you to the finish line.
Spend time imagining it and how good it will feel. Imagine being within a mile of the finish. You know that after all these months of work, you're about to finally finish. You see the finish line coming into view and your heart lifts. People are cheering and clapping. This is the moment you have worked so hard for. The joy and relief of crossing that finish line after getting through all those tough spots and challenges and obstacles, in spite of all the fears and the doubts you had, you've done it.
You cross the line knowing you didn't quit. Even in all the moments in training and in the race when it seemed impossible and even delusional, you didn't quit. You feel proud, you feel strong, and you realize you're now somebody who's going to show up and keep going. You're now somebody who doesn't quit. You're now somebody who shows up to do hard things and does what they say they're going to do, no matter how the race is going or how tempted you might be to drop. Feel the confidence and pride that comes from that. Nothing can ever take that away from you. You earned it.
Then imagine telling your friends about the race later, signing up for your next big challenge, and having more options that you feel are open to you. And looking back on this race with pride instead of regret. That feeling, all those emotions, that is your why. That is your rocket fuel. Practice feeling it during training. Imagine it, daydream about that finish line, let yourself feel it, make it vivid, do it often, make it familiar.
Then, on race day when things get tough, it's easy to pull that feeling up like a powerful weapon. When your brain says, "Your feet hurt, you're tired, you're close to cut off, it is not your day. Just give it up and drop." You say, "Yeah, this is hard, but I want that finish more than I want the relief, or more than I want to quit. I want to look back and know I gave this everything. I want that memory, that version of myself."
And when you have a strong why, it helps you in all kinds of things. It motivates your training, it generally builds your confidence, it keeps you going in the race and in training when your brain tries to sell you comfort. It helps you push through excuses and doubt and pain. And obviously, it turns you into somebody who adapts and stays resilient instead of quitting. It's like your steady pacer, your anchor, your fuel.
Ultras are designed to test us. And when your why is stronger than the urge to quit, you don't just finish the race, you become the next version of yourself. You become the unstoppable ultra runner who doesn't give up. If this hits home for you, if you've been there in that drop zone mentally or physically, know this. You're not weak. You're not missing an ingredient everybody else has. You're human. And you can train your brain to stay in the race even when it wants out.
So practice your why. Make it powerful, make it vivid, make it feel ridiculously good. And use it the next time your brain says, "Let's stop," because that's when the real race begins.
Thanks for listening. If this episode helped, share it with a friend who's training for their next big race. And until next week, keep going. You've got this. 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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