200 milers are different, you can come back from the dead.

Visualizing a positive outcome is a powerful tool to produce positive outcomes. Visualization can make something that seems statistically improbable and turn it into a reality.

Inspiration can be fleeting. Self-motivation is everlasting if it is sincere.

I had never felt more alive, more happy to be living in the moment. My suffering stood on the horizon, like the mountain, contrasting comfort. It stood starkly against familiarity, above old limitations, and towered over complacency. The mountains added the beauty and depth to the landscape around me. I was pushing into a totally new realm and pushing towards my dream of testing my limits. It did not feel pleasant, not in this hour, but I forced myself to run the last mile.

A goal is an amazing thing. If harnessed properly, it can boost us out of bed on the days that we want to pull up the covers and keep our eyes squeezed shut. It can motivate us to aspire beyond our comfort zones. I enjoy setting goals that seem out of reach because I do not fear not accomplishing them.

By setting hard personal goals, I awoke with a clear purpose. This purpose reinforced my healthy eating habits and exercise. My life became balanced (still extreme, but balanced).

There is no finish like the one you questioned.

It can be hard, out there during a tough race or long run gone wrong, to remember that we choose these mental and physical tests. We are fortunate to experience these events.

It was only sifting through depths that deep that I was able to uncover my soul. Maybe it was not really about this race; it was about finding those few thoughts that transcended the darkness, the ones that would only be conjured up within my head during times of need. Maybe it was finding a spiritual level of flow while running, floating down the trail like I’ve never experienced before, finding myself running within ultra.

Resting when you are tired at mountain races is unwise until you reach lower altitudes, I have learned.