Why do we like running extremely long distances? Is it so we can look suffering in the face, flip it off, and keep pounding anyways? Is it so we can understand our own physicality and remind ourselves that our “limits” are imagined and really we can push ourselves WAY beyond their confines? Or is it because we are kinda sorta psychopaths?

These were some of the questions running through my head around mile 27 after a long morning of running up a mountain in pouring down rain and 30 degree temperatures. My body was drenched due to shoddy raincoat manufacturing and my hands were borderline-frostbitten. By all rights I should have been absolutely miserable. I should have been questioning every decision that I had made in life that led me to this stupid a$$ mountain in this stupid a$$ race. But I wasn’t, I had a goofy grin on my face. I was in the middle of Linville Gorge in the Blue Ridge Mountains in the midst of December and I was loving it!

Every race will teach you something new. In our lives, we learn the most from the kick-you-in-the-teeth moments, the moments you have to buckle down, face adversity and let resilience shine through you.  Continue reading