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Marathons and Mental Health Part 4: Calling Yourself By Your Rightful Name
I’m not much of a TV or movie watcher, but Into the Wild is a fantastic biography that tops the list. Disillusioned with modern wealth and a high-stress, high-conflict home, Christopher McCandless leaves home after high school graduation, roaming through North America as a vagabond and hippie, his location completely unknown to his family. He takes on the name “Alexander Supertramp” and introduces himself this way in light-hearted fashion to everyone he befriends, which is basically everyone he meets. His travels, and his life, end in the wilderness of Alaska, where, after wasting away on a limited food supply, he is done in after eating a plant he thought was…
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Marathons and Mental Health Part 3: Who Decided That Was A Failure Anyway?
It was the spring of this year, and quickly getting hotter. It was now or never. It was time to go back and do what I had attempted to do in the winter, and failed at–run a 50 mile race through the Wild Azalea Trail. Notably, my attempt earlier in the year was hot on the heels of near-perfect training. I had followed a training plan religiously, done the whole self-care regimen, honed in my nutrition, and regularly checked in with a physical therapist to make sure everything was working the way it should. When race day arrived, I failed miserably. As in, I barely got started. I had three…
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Marathons and Mental Health Part 2: Check the Terrain
In Part 1 of this series, we took a look at the transient nature of life’s challenges–that’s a fancy way of saying that if things feel rough and you want to quit, just hang on, because it will likely get better. We found some tips and tricks to help us navigate those challenges when they’re happening, such as remembering our self-care strategies, taking moments to stop and breathe, keeping the bigger perspective that challenges do pass, and perhaps more importantly, that they create fertile ground for personal growth. I felt as though the last trick up our sleeve deserved a little more attention, though, and that is this: Look down…
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Marathons and Mental Health Part 1: What Running has Taught Me About Life and All Its Breakdowns
It NEVER fails. Whether I’m running a 5k, a marathon, a half or full IronMan, I always feel the worst–and ready to quit–when I’m only a third of the way in. It doesn’t make sense really. Logically, mile 3 would be harder than mile 1. Rationally, mile 80 should feel a lot worse than mile 20. But it’s actually not true. And for me, here’s why: That awful, insidious, toxic, poisonous thought takes root in my psyche and slowly spreads its tendrils throughout my body: “This is hard. It’s going to keep getting harder. I’ll never be able to do this.” This thought miraculously turns my blood to lead and…
