Ultrarunners can be obsessive creatures. While most folks consider the annual Turkey Trot 5k a sufficient distance, we run for hundreds of miles over many days. Moderation bores us.
This obsessiveness, of course, can be both a good and not-so-good thing. It takes a fair measure of drive and compulsion to reach the finish line of an ultramarathon, but this same blunt ambition can get excessive when it comes to quantifying and measuring every training run. Being so focused on metrics and numbers can take the joy out of running. Yes, having goals is important, but sometimes the best goal is simply not to have one.
What do I mean by this? Remember that wanderlust you had as a child? Why not tap into that same youthful urge for discovery and exploration as a long-distance runner and use it in a way that keeps running fresh and exciting to help stave off burnout?
For instance, if you travel, foot tourism is a particularly good way to experience a new city. I’ve explored Sydney, Tokyo, Buenos Aires, Athens, Cape Town and many other interesting places on foot. It’s amazing how time disappears when you’re just going with the flow, no particular destination in mind, no set distance or pace goal, just gallivanting under foot power, completely absorbed in your surroundings. I’ll often be gone for 6 or 7 hours, perhaps more, lost in the moment and an unfamiliar environment. I always tuck a few pesos, euros or yen in my pack and if I feel like a falafel or a gyro, I’ll stop and grab one. Some might argue that the training value of such runs is limited, but beyond aerobic output, an ultramarathon is largely about time on your feet, moving forward, eating, processing food on the run and dealing with the unusual and unanticipated. Running, walking, shuffling and exploring a foreign territory accomplishes these things and can also be quite entertaining.
Not long ago, I was with several friends when we decided to run up Mount Olympus in Greece. Near the summit, the weather shut us out and we couldn’t keep going. Instead of retracing our path, we found another trail that went in a different direction. Many hours later, we popped out on a road, hungry and weary, after which we discovered a local winery and decided to see what we could procure. Several glasses of red wine, olives, feta and warm handmade pita later, we made our way out. Let me be clear, I’m not advocating alcohol while running, though I can say that after the red wine my muscles were noticeably relaxed and the pain had pleasantly dissipated. Might we see a red wine flavored gel in the future? Who knows, but without having gotten lost, the important R&D work would never have been done.
If there is a takeaway from this story, it would be that while having goals is important, there remains some flexibility on how best to achieve these goals. If chasing a goal has taken the luster out of running, try, at least for a day, setting off on a run with the only goal in mind being not to have one.