I’d rather be hiking in the woods. However, since it was 95 degrees outside, I decided that the gym would be the better choice. Yesterday, I ran a very sweaty 5 miles outside and it was torture. Your health needs to be forefront in your mind and sometimes it means you need to give into the elements. Today, on my training schedule, I was supposed to run “3 miles easy.” Running a quarter of a mile outside today would have been anything but easy.

From what I’ve read and watched, I have realized that running ultramarathons requires pushing your body to the limit and then some. That means that the secret to running an ultramarathon takes confidence and belief in yourself. In my mind, one must build up to that confidence and belief. As with anything in life, to really achieve something, you need to put the work in. This is why it’s so important to individualize your training schedule and ease it into your life. To become an ultra runner– or anything extreme– to make it truly work, it needs to become a focus. At the same time, you need to make sure that the rest of your life doesn’t get lost along the way. Think about all of the most important aspects of your life. To allow trail running to become one of these aspects, it needs to slowly work itself in. The goal is to have a happy and healthy life that has balance. ‘

So, if you have to go to the gym instead of your wonderful wilderness, do it with a smile on your face. Remember your goal and be confident that you are doing all you can to reach it.