The Secret to Winning and Losing
What do winners know about losing that losers never learn about winning? Here's a case study in winning and losing worth learning from:
🏆 Secrets
The winner of the Western States Endurance run in 2023 was a guy named Tom Evans. Pretty cool dude. Runs in a white Red Bull bucket hat. He does a British salute at the finish line.
After he won Western States, he was working towards a historic double win at UTMB.
He DNF'ed (did not finish). He had some sort of virus. Spent 10 hours in an Italian hospital.
A few months later, he got jumped on the trail while training for his next race.
The year had the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. He's out there again, training for his next set of races in 2024. What does he know?
Resilience - the capability to withstand or recover quickly from difficulties.
Next time you hit difficulty, observe yourself: how long does it take to bounce back to normal mentally? Physically? Emotionally? Spiritually?
The strongest leaders and people have a high resilience factor.
🏃🏻♂️ Running When You're Sick
Last weekend, I crushed a 12-mile run in the pouring rain on a new trail to finish out a 45-mile week. It was awesome.
Then, I died.
Well, not really. But I quickly acquired a fever, the shakes, and aches that promptly spent the next 48 hours in bed. I'm still not back to 100%.
I'm NOT a doctor. But I've been running for decades and getting sick occasionally my whole life. Here are my rules of thumb I've developed for what to do when I'm a bit under the weather:
- If you're starting to feel sick, a run will either accelerate it or eliminate it - go for it!
- Pain below the neck - take a day off
- Pain only above the neck - run with caution
- If you take off of work, I probably take off on running, too
- Something is better than nothing
- Trust your training to this point - don't get worried if you have to take time off
- Trust your discipline once you're well - you'll get back out there soon
- You're a runner, not a robot
💬 “Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness." - Edward Stanley
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Just run one mile... because one mile inevitably turns to two... Then, to three... And before you know it, you're running further than you ever dreamed. See you on the trails! 🤙🏻
