"There was never a question of stopping"

I hopped out of the van for my first leg of the 31-hour and 15-minute run - it was 1:30am. I knew that this would be one of the easier legs thanks to a fresh body and the adrenaline pumping through me.

Our accumulative goal pace as a team was 5:07/km - Holy shit I love a goal. I’ve been setting goals my whole life. Up until recently, I didn’t fully understand the byproduct that comes with goal setting: a clear, focused mind.

At 30, I’m realising the buildup of events that got my mind where it is today.

I think back to being 9-years old and competing in the Track & Field Junior National Championships in Cleveland, Ohio. 11 other girls and I were out in the 90 degree Fahrenheit sun, no shade in sight, at the Long Jump pit for what felt like hours (and if you’ve ever seen a long jump competition take place, it probably was!) Between jumps, We huddled closely under the meter of shade made up from the shadow of the medal stand. Only the tough would persist. I walked away with 5th place.

I think about how I consistently showed up to High School track & field practice, Monday-Friday, 3:00-5:00pm — Because that’s what you did. It was required. You want to compete? You show up and you put in the work.

High School Track & Field meet, High Jump

Mostly, I look back in amazement at what I learned in College. The heptathlon is an event made up of 7 disciplinary’s: 100mH, High Jump, Shot Put, 200m, Long Jump, Javelin, 800m competed over the course of 2 days. If you messed up on your first event and didn’t know how to let it go, you were toast. Early on in my collegiate career, if I hit a hurdle in the first event and it effected my race time, I let it carry on and effect the entire rest of the competition. If you don’t have the proper tools & practice, frustration leads to frustration.

Luckily, I was coached and mentored under the great Dave Nielsen & the late Jackie Poulson at Idaho State University. They taught me how to hyper-focus on the event at hand. Then, within the 30-minute window leading up to the next event, your goal was to get the brain ready to perform + hyper-focus on the next event. If an event went badly Coach Jackie would often say, “I’ll give you 5-minutes to sulk then you need to let it go.” Thanks to my experience through the heptathlon, I learned that you cant control the outcome, you can only control the steps it takes to get there.

For the 31-hour running race, I knew I wasn’t going to run 5:07/km every leg. Some legs would have more hills, others would be flat; Some were 30-minute stints, others were 5-minutes. What I did know was, each time it was my turn to run, I would be ready to focus on the task directly in-front of me. I stepped out of the van every single time thinking, “Okay, this is it”… THIS IS IT.

31-hours & 15-minutes later I calculated my average pace. I had run a total of 61.12km in 5-hours & 2-minutes at an average pace of 4:56/km. Was I surprised? Hell ya! But reflecting on it now, I understand how I was able to achieve this outcome; Through a strong mind, learned, shaped, and practiced over the years. More simply put —> from focusing on the now.

Now that’s some brainpower for ya.

7:50am hill climb to Whitford - 24 hours to go