I was laughing and giggling at the ridiculousness of my situation. I’ve come eight-one miles. and for the most part I felt fine, I was hydrated, fueled well, I felt comfortable in the heat and sun, I felt comfortable in the cold and dark…but my calves were tight, painful knots of searing hate. Straightening my legs required maximum effort and four-letter words.

You trained for months. You imagined crossing the finish line. You pushed through every cold, early morning, spent time away from family, friends, work, ran your heart out…and then…You didn’t finish.

A DNF can cut deep. It can shake your confidence, your identity as an athlete, and your trust in your own body. I am no stranger to DNF’s – just check out this post a few years back and this podcast. But I’m going to tell you, DNF’s are not the opposite of success. They’re opportunities to rebuild self-belief from the inside out.

Every endurance and mountain sport athlete knows the moment when their legs burn, their stomach churns, and their mind screams to stop.

We work arduously to rid ourselves of these distractions - of these annoying thoughts and feelings that push us towards quitting, but to no avail. They keeping coming back. We can push them down, ignore them, sometimes we try to ‘reframe’ them – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing - if it works. But like flies on shit, they keep coming back.