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A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
// Winston Churchill
I sat curled up on a fold-up canvas chair under a portable canopy lit up by Christmas lights in mid-July as a guy dressed like Jesus handed me a black garbage bag in case I needed to puke. I wasn’t dreaming or hallucinating. This was the Burrows aid station, roughly 65 miles (over 100 km) into the Hardrock 100 mile endurance run through Colorado’s rugged San Juan Mountains.
I'm in the middle under a blanket with my head in a trash bag. Photo: Luke Nelson
I had just descended from the top of Handies Peak, one of Colorado’s 14ers (a 14,000 foot mountain). The highest elevation I had ever lived at was just over 1,000 feet, and my body was not dealing well with the altitude. I started the ascent in 4th place. Hours later, still at the aid station struggling to even get a sip of water down, I had dropped to somewhere around 30th. My pacer, who was there to help ensure safety and keep me moving, had already cracked open a beer. It was clear that my race was over.
Non-linear Decline
It’s often said that progress isn’t linear. One of the most useful lessons I’ve learned in ultrarunning is that decline isn’t either. The title of this post is a quote from ultra running great David Horton, an important reminder to push on through the low points. In shorter races, the goal is to start fresh and accept a steady decline until hitting the finish line with nothing left. In races like Hardrock, there are many highs and lows. A seemingly one-way descent to rock bottom can surprisingly reverse.
I had experienced this reversal many times before, and while others at Burrows were convinced I was done, I was sure that one way or another I would make it to the finish line. After four hours I managed to get some water down, get up, and start moving. I steadily regained my strength, and by the time I finished I had worked my way back into the top 10.
Bonus: finishing late enough in the day for my kids to join me
The Sun Always Rises
This lesson has extended into countless areas of my life, including building a startup, raising my kids, overcoming financial challenges, and recovering from a catastrophic hurricane. Sometimes the best we can do is move forward in any way we can. Eventually, we might turn a corner.
The Appalachian Trail is an entirely new type of challenge for me. I don’t know how some of my past experiences will extrapolate from five days to forty, or how well I’ll be able to handle the new obstacles I’ll face. One thing I can be sure of is that there will be massive lows. I expect that within the first week the thought of continuing for another five weeks will seem entirely ridiculous, impossible, and overwhelming.
When I encounter these thoughts and early difficulties, I’ll focus on the next small goal that my mind can grasp. The lows will come and go, but if I continue to make forward progress I’ll reach the finish, and the strength, achievement, and experience from overcoming those difficulties will always remain.
John Kelly is attempting to break the record for the near 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail. This blog series coincides with weekly video episodes following his journey.
Watch this week’s video below:
John Kelly is the original architect and developer of Envelop Risk’s core technology, CyberTooth. After spending a few years in the UK building the team, he now lives back in the US with his family. John is also an internationally recognized ultra marathon runner, one of only three people to complete the Barkley Marathons more than once and the record holder on many well-known routes, including the Pennine Way. The thoughts and views in these posts are his own reflections from experiences as an accomplished athlete and entrepreneur, and do not necessarily reflect the views of others at Envelop Risk.
