Choose to Run
It came to me somewhere in the middle of a long run. Not a flash of inspiration, not a dramatic moment on a climb. Just a quiet thought that settled in and stayed: choose to run.
I’m deep in training for the FANS 24-hour endurance race and, beyond that, the Superior 100. Long runs are part of the deal. So is the negotiation that happens in your head around mile 18, 20, 25 — the voice that starts making very reasonable arguments for why you should walk to the next intersection, or the top of this hill, or just for a minute.
The voice isn’t wrong, exactly. Walking has its place. There’s no shame in it. But I’ve started to notice when I’m choosing to walk versus when I need to walk, and those two things feel pretty different once you learn to tell them apart.
That’s where the mantra comes in.
What “choose to run” means to me.
It’s not about pace. It’s not about looking strong or hitting a split. It’s about staying honest with myself in the moment — checking in and asking whether I’m listening to my body or just listening to the part of my brain that’s ready to be done.
When I’m genuinely taxed, and walking gives my legs a chance to reset, that’s not weakness. That’s experience. But when I’m walking because I told myself I would. After all, the corner is right there, because it’s easier to make the deal in advance — that’s a different thing. That’s a small surrender that adds up.
“Choose to run” is the reminder to ask the question before I make the deal.
Keeping moving forward
I’ll say this plainly, and I mean it: I’m not here to tell anyone how to run their race. Walk breaks are a legitimate strategy. Hiking the climbs is sometimes the smartest call you can make. Plenty of ultras get finished by runners who barely ran the last 20-30 miles, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
What I’m talking about is the habit that forms before the race — the pattern of taking the easier path before you’ve even tested the harder one. That habit shows up on race day. So does the opposite one.
If your goal is to finish, keep moving forward. If your goal is to finish faster, keep moving forward with more intention. The direction is the same either way.
What it means heading into FANS and Superior
Training for a 24-hour race, and then a 100-miler, means a lot of time alone with your thoughts. The miles are long enough that the mental game matters as much as the physical one.
I don’t know exactly what mile it’ll be when things get hard at FANS. I don’t know which stretch of the Superior Hiking Trail will test me the most. But I know that the decisions I make now — the small ones, the ones no one sees — are practice for those moments.
Choose to run is my answer, in advance, to a question I know is coming.
Maybe it becomes yours too.