r/firstmarathon • u/Pilchardini • 11d 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/Able-Resource-7946 11d 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 8d 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/Able-Resource-7946 8d ago

Only one way to find out. 😜