1198. 10 questions to ask yourself after an ultra marathon

Here are some potential questions you could ask yourself to reflect on your ultra marathon experience and how it can help develop you as a person.

That’s the goal, isn’t it?

The key is using focused questions to reflect on the multi-faceted impacts of pursuing such an audacious goal from a personal growth perspective.

10 Questions

1. What motivated me to take on such an extreme physical and mental challenge? Exploring your “why” can provide insights into your values, goals, and inner drive.
2. What were the biggest obstacles or low points during the race, and how did I overcome them? Analyzing how you pushed through difficulties can reveal your resilience, problem-solving abilities, and mental fortitude.
3. How did I have to adapt my strategy or mindset when things didn’t go as planned? This can shed light on your flexibility, composure under pressure, and ability to improvise.
4. What did I learn about my physical and mental limits? And how might I be able to extend those limits further in the future? This probes your potential for growth.
5. How did pursuing this goal change my perspective on what I’m capable of achieving? This can boost self-confidence and self-belief.
6. What habits, disciplines or mindsets did I have to cultivate to succeed at this challenge? Identifying these can help ingrain positive traits.
7. How can I take the perseverance and grit required for this endeavor into other areas of my life? This allows you to transfer the strengths developed.
8. What emotions did I experience throughout the journey, and how did I process or manage them? This explores your emotional intelligence and self-awareness.
9. How did this pursuit affect my relationships and connections with others? This examines the impacts, positive or negative, on your human bonds.
10. What wisdom, insights or life lessons did I gain that I can carry forward on my personal development path? This synthesizes the deeper meaning from the experience.

Here are some of my answers:

1. What motivated me to take on such an extreme physical and mental challenge? Exploring your “why” can provide insights into your values, goals, and inner drive. In the beginning, I ran to allow time for my wrist to heal. I used to be really into handstands and developed a cyst on my wrist. I set the goal to run a marathon that year and then doubled that distance each year – 50-mile race, 100 miles, 200 miles. That 200-mile race broke me – and looking back – it’s been really a slippery slope since then. Anyway, I wasn’t ready to go 400 miles so I decided to do a series of races – The PA Black List. I completed that goal and decided to set my eyes back on the 200 mile distance the following year (2024), because well, I barely did it once, could I actually do it again? I did, barely, and this is where the slippery slope continues. I ran my next 100 mile race a few months later and developed a stress fracture in my lower shin and now I am out from running for the next few months . It’s really causing me to think why I run these things. It was all about doubling the goal, pushing my limits, but why did I run that last race? My friend Pete ran the same race and it was his 5th time running that race (thus getting a 500 mile buckle) I thought it would be cool to run it with him, but I forgot that 100 milers are never guaranteed – I think I may have gotten to far ahead of myself and didn’t let my body full recover. Now I am paying for it with an injury that I cannot run through (or rush), and it’s really causing me to think about what’s been motivating me to take on such extreme physical and mental challenges… The reasons changed from finding a new hobby to let my wrist heal, to double the distance, to get better as a person… but what does that really mean? Has it been just to flex my ego? I don’t think so, ultra’s break the body and mind down. They’re long, not really fun in the moment, and strip the human down to the basics – the next step, the next piece of food or liquid, the right gear… It makes you feel alive by having you focus on such little things. But is there a point of deminishing returns? There are people who’ve ran fifty one hundred milers – do they still get that same feeling? I know I was getting that same feeling when I reached a new distance or got one step closer to completing the series, but this last hundred mile race, I was in so much pain I was just happy to be done. Maybe I can just keep it to 1 or 2 races per year… How can this relate to my values, goals, and inner drive? Know what I want and have something to work towards, start small, try to double it each year, and see what this next chapter brings. I know I can take this same intensity and success from running into other areas of my life.
2. What were the biggest obstacles or low points during the race, and how did I overcome them? Analyzing how you pushed through difficulties can reveal your resilience, problem-solving abilities, and mental fortitude. This last 100 miler that I completed, the C and O Canal 100, was one of my tougher races. A simple course but the issues I dealt with made it much more difficult. I dealt with shin splints, getting back out on the course after a 3-hour break and 30 miles to go, fighting cut-offs, and eventually a stress fracture in the shin. I used prayer, motivational quotes, music, positive self talk, ‘got myself squared up’ at certain aid-stations, and about 800 MG of ibuprofen (a last ditch effort). I was really present during these times and aware that things were starting to spin out of control. Then I started to figure out solutions with my crew, volunteers, other runners, and myself and tried new methods to see what worked. One of the benefits of running something like this is that the body is giving immediate feedback, whereas in business or relationships it might take days or weeks to see feedback.
3. How did I have to adapt my strategy or mindset when things didn’t go as planned? This can shed light on your flexibility, composure under pressure, and ability to improvise. When things didn’t go as planned I started to reevaluate my goals, at first it was a sub-24-hour finish, then it was to finish with Pete, then it was to just finish at all costs. I also started to try new “styles” of running like even smaller steps and closer to the ground, and using poles too. I also had to remind myself that it was worth it to continue on and finish, to see the goal through.
4. What did I learn about my physical and mental limits? And how might I be able to extend those limits further in the future? This probes your growth potential. I learned that I can deal with a lot of pain for an extended period of time. I learned that the mental game is even more difficult than the physical game. Dropping out of a race may be the easy road, albeit if nothing life-threatening is happening, but otherwise – why not just finish the race? Maybe that’s just my viewpoint, but I already planned to be there all day and have nothing else going on. Extending those limits further requires different strategies in the moment for me like prayer, breathing, presence, being conscious of how I am using time at the aid station – at least these are the strategies within the ultra world, it sounds like they could relate to other areas of life too. There’s something to be said about doing something when you just straight up don’t feel like doing it anymore.
5. How did pursuing this goal change my perspective on what I’m capable of achieving? This can boost self-confidence and self-belief. Pursuing this 100-mile goal has helped solidify that I can do hard things and achieve goals despite setbacks and “not going to plans” – that doesn’t come without pain, effort, and planning. I’ve run 100 miles before (this is my 6th one) but they never get easier, recovery gets faster but during the 100 miles, everyone feels like shit. Being able to store that shit feeling somewhere else and still see the goal through is a trait worth striving towards. This race was one of the hardest races I’ve done in a while because of how much pain I was in. (Do I say that every race? I think so)
6. What habits, disciplines, or mindsets did I have to cultivate to succeed at this challenge? Identifying these can help ingrain positive traits. This 100 miles of nonstop running didn’t happen overnight and it didn’t happen without work. Lots of work, lots of lonely miles. Daily runs, small buildups over months and years, taking time to recover and “deload”- finding a balance, cross-training to strengthen other areas, visualizing the goal, the process, the pain, the success, the overcoming, getting enough sleep and fueling my body right – it was an all-consuming goal with lots of focused effort, while still trying to maintain some sort of life outside of running.
7. How can I take the perseverance and grit required for this endeavor into other areas of my life? This allows you to transfer the strengths developed. Start out small on a goal – really knowing what I want – and watch it grow into something mind blowing over the course of years, while putting in the work daily. Some examples could be: instead of trying to make $100k per year or have this huge business, maybe start out with something small like add a new income stream or start a business and have it profitable within 6 months – or maybe it’s instead of trying to travel the world, build new experiences local at first – instead of trying to have X, be the person who I need to become that will eventually get the goal maybe that’s through reflection or thinking things out better, reading, meditating, or doing personal development work
8. What emotions did I experience throughout the journey, and how did I process or manage them? This explores your emotional intelligence and self-awareness. I experienced the full spectrum of emotions: happiness, pain, hurt, appreciation, love, gratefulness, highs, lows, doubt, suffering, drag, tiredness, fatigue, questioning, relief… and so many more. It was a lot more lows than highs, managing the highs is the easy part, when things feel good. The lows is what will cause a DNF (did not finish) So how did I process or manage these low emotions? The power of breath and intentionally slowing down, reframing – just getting to the next aid station 7 miles away, not 25 miles left of the race – positive self talk and prayer “Lord give me strength” was the mantra for a while.
9. How did this pursuit affect my relationships and connections with others? This examines the impacts, positive or negative, on your human bonds. Some effects were good: running 60 miles with coach Pete on his way to his 500th mile at C and O, having genuine connections with first-timers and old vets – all working toward a common personal goal – it’s a really cool experience. It was also a deposit for my relationship with myself. This next part is tricky. From my POV, having Corie there was a huge deposit in terms of support, crew things, doctoring me up, and some motivation to keep going. From her POV though? that might be a different story. It’s a long time just sitting around – of course it’s not just sitting around but to sum it up. I ran for almost 30 hours and might have been with her for about 3 of those hours, and out of those 3 hours I was sleeping for 2.5 of them. Was this race a deposit for her or is it starting to become a drag? (It’s been 10 times since she’s done this) I feel like it’s becoming a drag, although she might not admit that because of who she is – always looking to support people around her. Some food for thought.
10. What wisdom, insights, or life lessons did I gain to carry on my personal development path? This synthesizes the deeper meaning of the experience. I can do hard things, self-accountability, the importance of having quality people around you, being alone is okay, so is being bored. This running journey started out with the small goal of running a marathon and then blossomed into big 100 and 200 mile races. Goals can start out small the first year, but over the course of a decade? Those first goals will seem so small. The first goals are important to because it builds confidence and a rhythm. I learned to always be ready for anything that can come up, not in a paranoid way but in a way where I know I can figure things out. Talking things out with others is another great way to see different perspectives. I realize that I can achieve whatever I want, and do whatever I want, just do the work and never stop.

Thanks for tuning in and run hard!!