*This a post I wrote for Grandma’s Marathon 2025. It is very applicable to anyone planning on doing anything hard… ever.
Rain is starting, nervous energy is everywhere, the people around me are starting to settle into their marathon race pace, and I’m about fifteen minutes into the race thinking, “Wow, this is already feeling kind of hard. That’s worrisome.” I remember the past three months of training and how, up until three days prior, I was pretty worried about even starting this race. “I get to do this,” I think. “This hard is much better than the hard of not starting due to an injury.”
Now, we are making our way past the half marathon starting point. My pace is already starting to slow about five seconds per mile. I’m thinking, “How in the world am I going to do another half marathon right now?” My mind starts to look around me as more rain starts coming down. You can smell the trees. I hear the sounds of footsteps from the other endurance athletes splashing alongside me, and I focus on the things that feel good in my body.
Distracting myself from the pain works for a while, but as we start coming into town towards Lemon Drop Hill, I can’t distract myself from how hard this race is anymore. I look around as people start walking. Pain is on everyone’s face. It’s contagious. I want to stop and walk for just a second—put the pain on pause for a moment and take a break. Then I remember a few key things and repeat them in my head over and over again:
- “I’ve practiced for this exact moment many times in training.”
- “Injuries are hard. Not finishing is hard. Stopping is hard. Continuing to move is hard. Choose your hard, Jacob.”
- “You are here for yourself today—the past version that couldn’t run more than a mile without stopping. Make them proud today.”
- “You signed up for this. You get to do this. This is what you wanted. Smile through the pain.”
Two miles to go. Now the streets are LOUD. I round the last few corners with a big smile on my face, knowing that I am going to finish.
As I get past the finish line and finally get to stop and cherish the moment, I think back to how hard all those previous moments were and how only I will ever be able to remember that. Only I will remember how hard that felt to me. Those were my hard moments that I chose to push through.
The passage above was from last year’s full marathon in Duluth, Minnesota. Last year’s Grandma’s Marathon race was hard. It got hard many times throughout the race and also through the training block. As we enter this spring, I’m here again to remind myself and all of you that it’s going to be hard. The weekend of June 20th is going to be hard for all of us. Whether you are doing the 5K Friday night or one of the distances in the morning on June 21st, you will have at least one moment when it gets hard.
So, what should you do when it gets hard? As a runner, but also Minnesota Run Coach, I’ve been able to practice and help others practice working through hard moments. Below are a few ideas that have helped me and that I keep in my back pocket at all times. Bonus points for you if you can pick out some of the ideas below in my race story above.
Distract Yourself
When things hurt, distract yourself from the hurt. Focus on noises, sounds, smells—other feelings in your body that FEEL GOOD, not bad. As you are running, look to your breath and control your airflow.
Practice Hard Before Race Day
The best way to be ready for hard situations is to practice them in training. This can be done through your speed workouts, long runs, easy runs on tired legs, or even in the weight room doing things like wall sits for extended periods of time to practice being in an uncomfortable situation. Another good example if when strength training for runners is beneficial. If you really want, you can even practice training in hard settings like running in the rain, wearing a sweatshirt during a treadmill run, just doing a treadmill run, etc.
Remember YOUR WHY
In order to remember your why, you need to build it. More importantly, it needs to be powerful enough to get you through something extremely difficult. You can bail at any time during the race… WHY are you going to choose to stay?
Check out my podcast here to dive deep into “Finding Your Why.”
Choose YOUR HARD
Hard is subjective. Everyone has different life experiences, and we all look at “hard” through a different lens. In terms of running a race, remember that there are other things that may be just as hard:
- Missing the race due to injury
- Not finishing because you didn’t train correctly
- Slowing down from body cramps because you fueled improperly
- Many other things
Choose your hard.
Only You Will Truly Know the Pain
I like to tell endurance athletes that at the end of the race when you are recapping your story, you can either talk about how hard it felt and that you fell apart because it got too hard OR that you finished in spite of how hard it got. Either way, they aren’t going to be able to visualize or truly understand how you felt. That’s for you to live with only. Will you overcome it? If you do, remember that that is also your story, and only you will truly know how hard that was for you to get through.
The Next-Level Feeling You Are Looking for Is on the Other Side of Your Hard
We all sign up for hard things for a reason. That is personal to you and important for you to understand, but I will say—whatever you are looking for, whether it’s a feeling or some other factor, remember that you will only get it by pushing through to the other side. That, my friend, is why we sign up—to see what we are capable of and find what that other side feels/looks like.
WE GET TO DO THIS
As a friend of mine once told me, when things start to hurt and you feel sorry for yourself, saying things like, “Another hill, my leg hurts, I shouldn’t be here,” etc., remember that you belong, you signed up for this, and YOU GET TO DO THIS. Smile through the pain—you are in control of your thoughts.
Be Flexible
All this mindset and practical stuff on what to do when it gets hard is important, BUT it is also very important to remember that sometimes our hard does mean to slow down, stop, or not start. We also need to remember that there is a difference between working through something hard and making an unwise decision. Good examples are trying to run when sick, injured, or in a mentally poor mindset—like expecting running to fix something you are going through. Again, I urge you to choose your hard. Sometimes the correct hard is to stop or not run after all. If you are in this boat, I would recommend a gait analysis, strength training, or proper programming from a Minnesota run coach, like myself, so you can work on injury mitigation and performance before your next training block or race.
Blog Post written by Jacob Oak | personal trainer, run coach, and gait analyst that works with endurance athletes through Oak Endurance
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