It's not that hard

My good friend and race legend Murdo put this up on the WHW Forum today in the thread of "Single Best Piece of Advice"..

""Yesterday I went along to the talk in Edinburgh by inspiratioanl yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur that I flagged up in an earlier thread.
It was very interesting, and there were certainly quite a few parallels between her experiences and ultradistance running experiences.
In the question & answer session at the end someone asked her if she had ever considered giving up. "Never" was the response.
If you are feeling a bit downhearted and self-sorry and blistered at some point in the next few days, it may help to think about this, and to adopt the same mindset.............
She was going solo unsupported non-stop around the world for about 70 days with a maximum of 3 hours sleep in a 24 hours period. "Giving up" might not have been a very practical option in the circumstances.
But if you are feeling wretched, and your support vehicle is right there, ready and willing to whisk you off to a hot bath and a beer or two, you may have to dig pretty deep to resist the temptation and continue on to the end to win your hard-earned finishers crystal goblet.

Think about it........ You may have to dig pretty deep, or give up........"

So this is something I have thought about a lot.. The way I see it, because you always have that option, the race is not that hard. The really hard things in life you can't give up on, you don't have that choice. We runners can get a little ahead of ourselves (guilty as charged), but we are doing something of our own volition, with all the relative comforts that our wealth, health and privilege give us.. At any point if it gets too much, we can give up, we can hop in the car.. No-one is going to die, the world will not fall off it's axis, life will go on.. It IS a significant challenge, but compared to real life in other parts of the world, compared to real life and death and illness and poverty and all that, it is nothing to worry about in the grand scheme of things..

This is not meant to be a negative post, or a comment on anyone that has not completed the race having started .. It is meant as a reflection on what this race is. It's an adventure and a challenge but at the end of the day it is not life and death, so put it in perspective and enjoy it ..

Enjoy the scenery, the people, the comradeship and the hills.. Relish the great outdoors, the midges, the tree roots, the mud, the rain, the pain, the miles that you gain, the rocks under foot, the stubbed toes, the sore back and the pain in the inside of your left armpit that just won't go away. Breath the silence of Rannoch Moor, the beauty of Buchaille Etive Mor, the lights of the oasis that is Kingshouse and the switchbacks of the Devils Staircase, the dips and the highs, the "Ahh fuck I'm gonna die", your friends being there with the perfect cup of soup, the text you get from someone dear. Live it, breathe it, soak it all up, you'll never do this again (for at least another year), and what might that bring so best do it here, and NOW ! And remember all you've done, you deserve to be here, and on cresting the hill down that bloody ugly forest track, watch the lights of the finish below that move further away, bottle that feeling till the end of your days.. Say never again, but then get through the doors, the cheers and the quaich, the dram, and the goblet that is yours..

Have a crack

Cheers KH