The Wild Dog Blog

Tag: motivation

  • “What Do You Think About When You’re Running?” – Dunes 50K, April 26 2025

    Dunes 50K – 6 hours & 25 minutes – 3rd Overall Female, 13th Overall

    “This is what I’m good at” I keep repeating to myself as I push to the finish, imagining I’m a freight train, legs unstoppable at the end of a race. While most people are starting to walk and wish for the day to be done, I’m coming alive.

    “I’m not the fastest, but I might be the strongest” so I know that if I stay focused, my legs will have no problem with a big effort in the last 6 miles of the race despite the fatigue from hours of running sand dunes in the south Florida heat.

    “This is why I train the way I do. To back down now would be a waste of all of those hours I spent hiking on the treadmill and under a heavy barbell.” By the last few miles of the race, I’m sure I’ve created enough of a gap between myself and the 4th place female that I’ve secured a podium finish, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is finishing knowing I gave my honest best. I don’t want to finish on cruise control, just because I’ve guaranteed myself a spot on the podium. I want to finish right on the edge of what I’m capable of, because that’s why I’m out there. To find out how deep I can dig when it seems impossible that there could be anything left.

    I think about Jasmin Paris who was the first woman to finish the notorious Barkley Marathons. I think about how race director Gary Cantrell aka Lazarus Lake described what she achieved as a “mathematical impossibility.” On paper, she was not capable of doing what she did. She tapped into a reserve that couldn’t be measured and did the impossible.

    I round the final corner of the trail and sprint the last stretch to the finish. “What’s possible for me if I continue to explore?”

  • Become a Gardener

    When we’re creating something, there’s so much out of our control. We can really only control what we choose to create and how we choose to create it – we can’t control whether or not it becomes something that’s meaningful to others or makes an impact.

    I think of creating as planting a seed in the ground. I picture myself cradling the seed in my hands before parting the cool, damp dirt aside to bury it in the soil. After I cover it up and pat the dirt down on top, all I can do is come back to the same spot each day to water and keep the weeds away. All I can do is use the tools that I have to cultivate what I’ve planted. When it starts to grow and at what rate it grows isn’t up to me. 

    To create is to accept and find freedom in becoming the gardener of your ideas.

  • Doors of Opportunity

    Everyone wants the doors of opportunity to open. But how many people are actually prepared for what it will take to walk through them once they do?

    The most exciting opportunities put you on the hook to elevate your game. The work is only just beginning when a new door opens and an opportunity presents itself.

  • When Passion Intersects with Problems

    Some days it feels like I was born to be doing what I’m doing, and some days it feels like I have no idea what I’m doing. I’ve come to understand this as a result of being at the intersection of what excites me and what challenges me. The intersection of “I can do this” with “I still have so much left to learn.” 

    I think this is exactly where we should want to be. I think we should count ourselves lucky every time we find ourselves at this intersection. Passion without problems will lead to complacency, and problems without passion will lead to misery. But to have the push and pull of both in what we’re pursuing is a recipe for growth and fulfillment.