60th year? Why not run my very first ultra-marathon? Well, I’ll tell you why–
If you don’t do the training, you’re not doing the distance. If you’re working on a condo refurbish every weekend, it’s hard to get in those long training runs. (Especially with 60 year old hips that scream loudly after a day spent getting up and down off the floor.) If you fall out your front door while working on said condo refurbish and end up with a full thickness tear of your rotator cuff, you can’t do your training. Particularly after surgery. If your friend and main partner in all things trail running happens to have her own fall and surgery, prohibiting her training/running, it’s hard to stay motivated to train and run events by myself.
That’s the majority of my excuses. I’m happy to note for you I didn’t have to include “too depressed to get out of bed.” I am immensely grateful for that fact. Just a year ago, that wouldn’t have been the case.
After a failed trail running restart in 2018 and again in 2019 (ankle injuries while training for the same event both years), I began actively working on mental resilience around injury and other setbacks (pandemic anyone?). It wasn’t until early 2021 when I felt myself beginning to recover. And yet, it still took more work, more therapy, more pharmacological tweaking before I felt energetic and motivated enough try again. Happy to say the resilience training is working!
My personal truth/motto is: Quit Trying = Failure. That is to say, only when you quit trying (again and again and again, if that’s what it takes), only then have you truly failed—no matter how Yoda feels on the whole subject of trying versus doing.
No, I’m not going to get my first ultra-marathon done during my 60th year, but I will get it done in my sixth decade.
Current target race (same as 2022) the Palo Duro Trail Run 50K distance. Happening on October 21 this year, I still have a full training cycle to prepare. Wish me luck–and maintained resiliency!
