Pain, euphoria, on top of the world, ready to quit. All kinds of thoughts are racing through the mind of a trail runner, so in this podcast we’re going to have a look inside of that mind.
ERYRI, the 25 kilometer race up Mount Snowdon, was a race I pushed, a race I tried to be fast. It was one of the most challenging races I’ve done up until then. I mean, it was the steepest and at the same time the longest non-stop climbing I had ever done. Maybe this wasn’t an ultra run, but all the altitude and tricky downhills made up for that, sweeping my mind from one extreme to another. One moment I felt on top of the world, the other moment I was happy to have a DNF (Did Not Finish) behind my name, it meant I could just stop.
Mental fitness
Trail running, ultra running, is not just running. It’s a mental battle as well. A battle with your own mind. That’s what makes trail and ultra running so interesting for me. Am I strong enough to beat my mind?
I will go into the mind more in coming blogs, but for now I think it’s fun to give you a little look into the mind of a trail runner. If you prefer to read the story, instead of listening to it, you can find it here.
