10 Life Lessons I Learned From Running My 16th Ultra Marathon Earlier This Week
I ran a 50-kilometer race on Sunday, and I decided to sit down and recap what I learned from the experience, as well as all of the previous ultra marathon experiences I've had.

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1. The template for doing hard stuff is basically the same for everything.
2 - Write down the steps to get there.
3 - Make sure the steps are broken down into small enough chunks that each one can be tackled in a day.
4 - Start today.
5 - Work on a task, no matter how big or small, every day. Don't break the chain.
2. You can do it. Really, you can.
3. But, you have to decide to do it.
Once you select that big goal, make the firm and unshaken decision to see it through or else move on to something else.
4. You can only control what you can control.
You can't change the weather and you can't make the pain go away. What can you do?
You can quit. You can stand there and whine (more on that below). Or, you can put your chin up, start walking for a while, see if the pain goes away, and then start running again (which is what I did, and it worked out).
In life, there's always something you can control.
5. You can quit any time you want.
The funny thing about the mind is that even though it wants to quit when things get hard, it also likes reaching milestones. If you can get past the next hurdle directly in front of you, momentum builds and you can usually keep going.
Speaking of which...
6. Momentum is a powerful fuel.
7. Stop whining.
8. At some point, you're going to be afraid.
9. Doing something really hard magically puts you in the moment.
I discovered that it's not possible to drift out of the moment when I'm running up or down a hard climb, or at mile 47 of a 50-mile race, and I just need to push through the pain and keep going. I'm totally in the moment, absorbed with each footstep falling in front of me.
What's something really hard that you can do that will pull you into the present moment?
10. When you're in the middle of something really hard, you just want it to end. But when it's over, you can't wait to do it again.
Accomplishing something really hard is one of the most rewarding things to do in life.
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