Six Steps to Completing Your 1,000 Mile Journey
The Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Here are the six steps I created to get myself across the finish line of the Bigfoot 200. For more on these, and how they can help you complete whatever long journey awaits you.
When I first decided I wanted to complete my dream of competing in a triathlon, I joined Team in Training, a fundraising arm of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society now known as Blood Cancer United. At that time, in exchange for coaching and managing race logistics, participants such as myself agreed to raise money to help fight cancer. I figured I couldn’t lose, I would get all the information I needed, a community to keep me accountable, and help fund cancer research. So I signed up and changed my life in many ways.
Along that path I met Coach Craig, an empathetic coach who brought a lot of fun to training. At the end of the season, on the evening before the big event, we would gather as a team for dinner and inspiration. It went a long way towards easing many of our nerves.
We sat, huddled around the coaches in a corner of the room. I could feel the nerves in the air, they were palpable. It was almost completely silent, words were past us in the moment. Looking around the room, I could see my own fears reflected in the eyes of many of those around me. It was a big day tomorrow. We would race in the morning, testing our training and ourselves.
We were all coming into the event with some hardline goal, adding stress and anxiety. Most of the participants in the program just wanted to finish, to have the satisfaction of knowing they crossed the finish line. Many, like me, had a time goal we wanted to obtain. A select few hoped to place in their age division.
Knowing this, Coach Craig stood in front of us that evening and said, “Neither finishing the event nor hitting a time goal should be your first priority.
Holding up a finger he continued, “Number one is to have the courage to start. Very few people even attempt to complete a race like this, crossing the start line puts you ahead of 99% of the population and is a win in and of itself. Whatever else may happen, you have done that much.
“Second, stay healthy. Don’t take unnecessary risks, don’t push harder than you should. If you injure yourself, you may not finish the race. Even if you do, it is not likely worth the weeks or months required to heal properly, assuming you don’t do any permanent damage.
With a third finger now in the air he carried on. “Your next priority should be to have fun. Enjoy what you are doing, take away a good memory. Don’t complete the race with nothing but thoughts of pain and anguish. Move with a smile and enjoy yourself out there.
“Only after you’ve taken care of the first three should you worry about finishing the race as your fourth priority. And if you do the first three then this generally will follow. You’ve put in the work, you can do it.
“Fifth and last should be any time or other personal goals.”
I appreciated his words. They might have felt condescending or pedantic to some, but to my fresh, “rookie” mind these were words of wisdom. Something that gave me things to focus on to relieve the pressure. This mind set allowed me to enjoy this event and so many others since.
Years later, I had a fatefully bad training weekend that led me to quit the 200-mile race before I’d even reached the start line. As I was processing my failure these words came back to me. Coach Craig’s first priority, to have the courage to start, opened the doorway to possibility, even if I couldn’t finish. I’d been pushing myself too hard, and was not taking care of my health. Fun had gone out the window a long time ago. No wonder everything had blown up.
Coach Craig’s five goals returned hope, but I also realized that if I was going to apply them to such a large undertaking I would need to modify them. As I was running, I came up with six things I believed would get me across the finish line. They were no longer goals or priorities, per se, so I started calling them “steps.” I felt it fit with the running theme. These six steps got me to the starting line after all, and then all the way through to the finish line.
Now I am sharing them in the hopes they will get you to take your first steps, and then keep going until you reach your finish line – whatever and wherever that may be. Below are more details on the Six Steps I utilized to achieve my big goal. I wish you the best on your journey!
1. Take the First Step – Whatever your challenge, start.
When I first heard this from Coach Craig during his pre-race pep talk, he called it the courage to start. At the time it was a no-brainer for me, of course I was going to start. However, I recognized the value of this wisdom after a bad training weekend when I decided to quit the 200-mile race I had been training so diligently for.
Just committing to taking the first step moves me into action mode. I am now on a path to do something, and action needs to be taken. I need to train, plan, and get organized. Going through motions, having forward movement, calms me. Instead of worrying about what’s ahead, I’m focused on getting things done. A cheap distraction to some, but it motivates me. Taking action creates momentum I can ride.
I know for my two-hundred mile run, as exhausted as I was, those last steps were some of the easiest. The early steps, to get to the start line, to begin the next segment, to continue on, were some of the hardest. Having the courage to start, to take the first step and at least try, sets one apart from everyone else. Separate yourself from the crowd, from the many that don’t even show up, and take the first step on your journey.
2. Stay Healthy – take care of you.
Most of the failures I’ve had, especially with running, have come down to not taking care of myself. In hindsight I can see where I didn’t rest like I should have. Where I was struggling mentally and pushed through anyway, not even acknowledging the challenge. I can see that I wasn’t sleeping well, or eating well, or hydrating well. Often neglecting all three.
Then, when the wheels come off, like my bad training weekend, I’m surprised. I thought I was better trained, or healthier, or stronger. Once the shock wears off, with some distance and perspective, it is clear I wasn’t managing my health – physical or mental. I can see where I went wrong, make adjustments, and recover.
After repeating that pattern enough times, I eventually learned to recognize it. With knowledge I could recover quicker when it happened. With intention I was able to see the signs early and get ahead of it, intervening to preventing the breakdown. I’m still far from perfect and crash on occasion. Learning to track my health, to know what the signals, both mental and physical, are telling me, has helped me become a much healthier person. One that can take on even bigger challenges with increased success.
3. Have Fun – Enjoy the ride
If I didn’t fail due to not taking care of my health, there is a 90% or more chance things fell apart because I lost sight of the joy. Running for me can be fun. A release of all the hard things I’m holding. I love to turn my face to the sun, take in a rainbow, or absorb the energy of the trees around me as I’m moving. Running can also be a slog, something that I force myself to do, pushing myself through the misery.
When all is well, it is a happy place much more often than not. Other times the scale tips, and I end up in the dark places. It can be all too easy for me to get stuck here, and to lose all the joy. Fears and anxieties take charge, pushing me forward. I will feel chased, like I have to escape. And it’s not only while running, this feeling can take over.
To combat this I try to take a moment to enjoy where I am. If it’s biking along the coast of Hawaii, swimming in the San Francisco Bay, running through the Cascade Mountains, or just on the streets near my home I focus on how lucky I am to be there, in that moment. So many times I’ve put my head down, working hard towards my goal, and forgotten how awesome it is just to be on the journey. As a result, I fail to enjoy the experience, and get caught in the spiral of darkness that rarely leads to anything good.
99% of whatever you are doing is the journey. The peak of the mountain is only 1%, the rest is the hard work getting up there, and then back down. In the case of my 200 mile run, the finish line was a matter of minutes compared to the days it took to get there. If the majority of the time, energy, and effort are in the arriving then it is important to make the most of every moment, to smile and enjoy the ride.
4. Take It In Segments – focus on what is in front of you
At mile twenty of the race, my focus was on the 10% I had completed. I was not thinking about the 90% of the race left to the finish. I celebrated what I had accomplished then focused on getting to the next aid station. If I had thought about the 186 miles left it would have been overwhelming. Doubts would have risen to the surface. This approach enabled me to stay focused on the task ahead. On getting through this section. On conquering this hill.
It was the same when I was planning for the race overall. True, I had to consider things that involved the entire event, but mostly I looked at each segment. I contemplated the space between aid stations. What was the terrain like, what would I need, and what were the challenges between one and next. I could manage each individual leg of the race, but contemplating the entire distance could be too much.
I remember one day a few years ago my aunt called me. She was selling her house and her real estate agent had given her a long list of things to do. Overwhelmed, she didn’t know where to begin. When I looked it over my first instinct was that there was no way we could get it done in the time she had. Still, this was my aunt and she needed help, so I started to dissect the list. I grouped similar items, things that could be done at the same time or required the same equipment, for efficiency. Then I took the grouped items and figured out the best order to complete them in. Now, instead of one huge job, we had several projects made up of smaller tasks. The work was completed ahead of schedule.
Breaking things down into manageable pieces turns an impossible project into bite-sized, realistic pieces. It removes the anxiety of the whole, lightening the weight. I can’t lift a truckload of firwood, but I can carry it a few logs at a time. Focus on what is in front of you and it is surprising how much can be accomplished.
5. Adapt – Flow like a river
Like Lewis and Clark, who traversed the North American continent, it would have been foolish for me to think the race would go perfectly according to plan. The bigger the goal, the task, or the journey, the more likely something will go wrong. Often several somethings. Knowing this from experience, a big part of my plan going in was to be ready for when it fell apart.
Some of the pivots along the way turned out to be for the better, some proved to be very challenging. By anticipating and flowing with what arises I was successful. Had I tried to rigidly stick to a plan, to force things to be the way I wanted them to be, I would have failed before I made it halfway. I had to adjust my finish time goals, change my strategy, and even alter my overall goal in order to stay in the game.
Over time I’ve learned to see obstacles as opportunities to learn and grow. To trust that when I must recalibrate the path that it turn out for the best. With this mindset I expect setbacks, creating contingency plans while knowing it’s what I don’t plan for that will happen. Like a river, I flow over, around, and through obstacles, adapting as I go in order to keep moving forward and eventually reach my ocean.
6. Visualize the Finish – Believe it will happen
If you can’t see yourself accomplishing something, the odds of achieving it drop considerably. I would not only see myself crossing the finish line, I would imagine what pose I would take for the photo. Would I hold one hand up in the air, or two? Or none, going for a nonchalant “I do this everyday” approach? I spent time seeing myself succeed because that made it feel more real, more possible.
For me, visualizing the finish was a big part of connecting to the long term goal. A reminder of why I was out here. That the finish would be worth the price I was paying to get there. It made the goal feel real and possible, even if only for that moment.
Envisioning achieving my goals, and then accomplishing them, built a pattern of success in my mind. Because I had imagined myself finish, and then did, my mind came to believe these visualizations with credibility. They became more than just a dream, but rather a prediction of the future. It became easier to endure the hard parts when I believed the finish was not only possible, but real.
Connect with Marc Hopkins
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Marc Hopkins speaks on:
- Resilience and endurance
- Leadership under pressure
- Identity and personal growth
- Mental toughness and self-examination
- The lessons endurance sports teach about life