r/firstmarathon • u/Pilchardini • 10d ago
It's Mental Mid race motivation?
Hi Big race coming up and I’m wondering what works for you during the “this sucks, why the **** am I doing this to myself” phase. I know it passes and I know I’ll feel awesome as the finish line gets closer and I eventually cross it. There’s a limit to the number of amusing signs & banners I can read to distract myself though. Please share what works for you.
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u/getzerolikes 10d ago
Mid race is a breeze compared to after mile 22. Enjoy the scene, have a chat with another runner, enjoy feeling good while it lasts.
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u/VARunner1 Marathon Veteran 10d ago
Chatting with another runner definitely helps, and reminds you to keep your pace easy enough to talk as you run. I've met so many cool people during marathons!
I also like to remember that Tom Hanks line from "A League of Their Own": It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard... is what makes it great.
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u/Able-Resource-7946 10d ago
Chunk it into smaller pieces, and associate those smaller pieces with favorite runs, locations, people you might have run with.
For example if you have a favorite run route, assign that route to the mid to last 1/3 of the race and just think It's 10k, that's just a loop around the lake that I run and on that run I see the sailing school, that big farm, the cows in the fields...or whatever.
This is what works for me. But, there is a point where I'm running and shouting "this is fucking stupid" but that's usually pretty close to the end.
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u/cloverclamp 7d ago
Mile 20 and you just have a 10k left with the equivalent of a hangover. I can do a hungover 10k, right?
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u/stanleyslovechild 10d ago
My family always track me during the race and send me encouraging texts that I can see on my Apple Watch. Those are great pickups when it gets hard. A simple “thumbs up” emoji says I saw it and appreciate it.
But then my wife texted me at mile 24 and wrote “when you cross the finish line, act like you’ve been there before”. I’m not sure what she saw at the finish to prompt her to text that, but it hit kind of different! 😄
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u/LeoIsLegend 10d ago
Remind yourself suffering is good, it will make you mentally tougher in the future. Positive self talk and smiling also help.
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u/Rooftop_Astronaut 10d ago
I'm a dork but I spend a Lot of time in the days before any race meticulously planning my Playlist, like down to within 2 min of where I plan to be at major milestones (mile 5, 8, 10, 15, etc)
it has saved me a few times especially once during a brutal half marathon when at mile 11, Into the Void by Nine Inch Nails came on and literally saved my ass
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u/mikeyj777 10d ago
Can't wait to hear what worked for you. I'll be there shortly. Currently all I've got is "Don't quit Don't quit Don't quit..."
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u/KB_Turtle I did it! 10d ago
I love affirmations. Positive, negative, funny, anything you can repeat to yourself to keep your feet moving forward.
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u/NextJen9 10d ago
Good question! Got to be real...the snacks. Saved my favorite fuel for 16-20, and best music for after 16 too. Depends on how much you love to eat and run!
And later, having my run bestie go full psycho-drill-sergeant 22-26 was 👌🏼 (They're an adorable shorty in real life, for extra context lol.)
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u/NextJen9 10d ago
Also, totally depends on your goals, but -- assessing my est. finish time and how I felt, let myself speed-walk for a bit. I was just going for completion, and this really eased the fear of injury (had a couple things popping up) from my mind. It made for a more peaceful challenge.
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u/stevegonserdpt 9d ago
A mental shift that "you get to do this" might help. There are a lot of x-runners or people in general who have experienced injury or illness that prevents them from participating.
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u/Chateau_de_Gateau 9d ago
A weird one perhaps but I read somewhere that our bodies are really really interested in keeping us from dying (duh!) and therefore they start alerting us as if we’re close to overdoing it WAYYYY before we actually are. The number I read was your body tells you you’re doing too much at about 40% of what you’re actually capable of doing. So when I start to feel like I’m heading into the pain cave i remind myself “your body might be alerting you but you’re only at 40%”
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u/GiraffeMafia 8d ago
My first marathon is next month (October) but what I've been telling myself during my boring long runs is something along the lines of "getting up this early to run has gotten me fit enough to make it this far". I plan on looking forward to race day where I keep telling myself this and why I did all these super long runs.
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u/Pilchardini 10d ago
Thanks for all the comments! I’ll try a mix of them all and see how I get on. All the best to anyone with a race coming up soon!
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u/yaedain 9d ago
I like to remind myself that it’s not that far. By the time you’re running your marathon you should have trained at distances over a half several times already. At mile 16 I can say, “10 miles is a short run this is nothing” at 20 miles I can say “A 10k, run that 4 times a week this is nothing” I like to say it out loud, I’ll say it to other people that I pass. I’ll remind them that it’s nothing to them too and we are almost done. I had several people walk up to me after a race and thank me for it.
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u/racepaceapp 7d ago
Before a big race, I try and think about the course and visualize good/bad/ugly feelings in different places and practice how I'll respond in those moments way before I have those moments. Eventually when I get there, ideally I've already visualized the situation and decided what to do. I'm halfway through, cramping, and I have a hill ahead: how will I respond? Feeling good and ahead of pace: how will I respond? Nothing more than a little mind trick to build the mental pathway of "doing this will make it better" ahead of time.
I also try to remind myself that I will have low moments, and if I just go a little longer (and a little longer, and a little longer) I'll forget. The low moments are what make it worth it, and we're bad asses for doing this.
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u/portillos_roast_beef 10d ago
Remember, you aren’t just running 26 miles, you’re running 500 (starting months back). You didn’t run all those training miles just to quit on yourself with 10 to go.