Ultra-runner Kyle Forgeard ran 32 miles without doubting he'd finish, relying on accountability from his parents and crew. He broke the race into 10-12 mile chunks between aid stations to manage the mental battle. Stopping felt good; starting again was horrible.
When you cross that 32 miles and you were in that uncharted territory and realized there's so much more ahead, how does your mind just not override your body and make you quit?
I'll be honest, I never actually ever had a doubt I was gonna finish. Not one single doubt. I think it was because of the accountability, having my parents there, having our crew there, having you there. But what I did realize very quickly was I underestimated this a little bit, and this is going to be tough as hell. So we just took it aid station by aid station, and we knew every 10 to 12 miles there was going to be an aid station, and And that's how we all kind of mentally battled it. Like, all right, aid station, we're here. And it was nice to sit down, but getting up, it was horrible. You just gotta like push yourself to start moving. It was just like a roller coaster the whole time. It was a cycle and we just had to mentally battle that the entire time.
