I’ve been reading Kilian Jornet’s memoir, Run or Die, and I was interested by his
technique to keep pushing and make the time pass during races. He weaves fantasies and gets lost in them,
imagining things like “I am a fugitive fleeing the police across the mountains,
a medieval knight escaping from the army pursuing him; I am chasing bandits who
have set fire to my home.”
I tried out this technique during last night’s Capt’n Karl’s
60K at Pedernales Falls. Mine turned out
to be a little less fanciful than Kilian’s.
Here were my top 5 race fantasies:
1. Imagining
that I had finished the race and was handed a cold beer.
I don’t even
like beer that much, but during the hot, humid first 18+ mile loop, that
sounded really good.
2. Imagining
that I was on a water ride.
Throughout
the race, I periodically shot blasts of ice water into my face. For a brief second it would feel like I was
on a fun water ride, instead of feeling like I was running at noon on the
equator. (No joke, it was a very
effective strategy for cooling myself down.)
3. Imagining that I was in a Saltines-eating
contest.
In one of my
trademark goofball moves, I brought only 8 gels per loop, and then some trail
mix to fill out the remainder of the calories I’d need. Towards the end of the first loop, when I ran
out of gels, I took a big handful of trail mix and shoved it in my mouth – only
to discover that it made my mouth so dry that I couldn’t swallow it. It took about four minutes and several shots
of water to get it all down.
4. Imagining
that I didn’t just get a piece of spiderweb in my mouth.
In the end,
you can imagine all you want, but the reality is that you have a piece of
spiderweb in your mouth.
5. Imagining texting my mom that I’d gotten 3rd
place.
Okay, this maybe
this one falls into the category of plan old visualization. Still, I was happy when I was able to
actually send the text.
Joking
aside, I think Kilian’s strategy has a lot of potential for my runs. And let’s face it, it’s a lot easier to add this
element of his running philosophy to my own training, as opposed to any other
aspect of his running.
---
On completely
different note, today is the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, and I heard one of
my favorite verses at Mass: “I have competed well. I have run the race. I have kept the faith” (2 Tim 4:7). I really feel like every act in our lives can
be a chance to cultivate holiness, and for me, running is probably the most
spiritual thing I do. To push myself to
my limit, out in the woods, all alone, just because I want to do my best with
what God gives me, gives me so much joy.
And for me, an ultra-distance race is a microcosm of life, bringing into
sharp relief the knowledge that I’m totally dependent on God for
everything. As my devotional says, “Accept
each day just as it comes to you. Do not
waste your time and energy wishing for a different set of circumstances. Instead, trust Me enough to yield to My
design and purposes.” Geez, is that a
devotional or a manual for ultrarunning?
