QT: The Risk of Failure Rises When Racing Hard (Best Of-ish)

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This post was originally part of Episode 418 released in May of 2017 and is more or less copied and pasted from that post. The audio, however, is a new take on the topic.

If you have the courage to fail, then you have the courage to succeed. ~Shalane Flanagan

How badly do you want to be successful in reaching your running goals?

Stupid question, right?

Do you want success bad enough that you’re 100% ok with the idea of failing in the pursuit of your goals?

Because if you’re not, you won’t be successful. Period.

There is a Reason PRs Mean Something

If PRs grew on trees, a new one would be ho-hum.

And you and I both know, a new PR is less “ho-hum” and a more:

Yeah, a new PR is definitely a big deal.

Want to Go Big? Failure is a Possibility

If you’re trying to push your limits, the risk of failure rises.

And that has to be ok or you will never know how far you could go.

If you’re content with staying where you are as a runner, you can minimize your risk of failure pretty dramatically.

Keep things simple. Keep doing what you’re doing. Maybe you’ll get a minute or two faster, maybe you’ll get a minute or two slower, but for the most part you’ll stay about the same.

If that works for you, that’s cool. But that doesn’t fly for me.

I don’t want to be running the same paces and distances in 5 years. Shoot, I don’t want to be in the same place in 5 months!

I want to improve. I want to get faster. I want new PRs and to conquer new challenges.

And the only way to do that is to risk blowing up mid-race.

If I’m going to race hard and reach my goals, I have to accept that failure is a possibility.

Failure Isn’t the End of the World…

While we have to come to grips with the possibility of failing during a race, failure is far from the end of the world.

In fact, failure may be the thing that propels you to new heights in your running.

How?

Failure is a great teacher.

When we set a goal and go out there and nail it on race day, we may learn a thing or two from our performance.

When we go out there with a plan and it completely blows up in our face, we can learn much more.

There is much to be learned from bad races that we can use to our advantage in future races.

And by learning from our failures, the odds of failure at the next race will be less.

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…But It Still Sucks

As much as we need to accept failure as a possibility when we are pushing ourselves, that doesn’t make the sting of a failure any less painful.

Point blank, failing sucks!

But it’s the price we have to be willing to pain if we are going to be willing to chase some big targets.

Are you willing to fail in the pursuit of your goals?

I sure hope so.

The risk of failure on race day is higher when chasing a PR. And that's ok. #running Click To Tweet

Are You Comfortable with a Risk of Failure in the Pursuit of Your Running Goals?

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