Musings 1.4

“Don’t let effort be the reason something doesn’t work”

I’ve heard a number of variations of this sentiment over the years but this particular phrasing seemed to stand out for me. It’s a similar version of what I often talk about in being proud of the process, rather than putting so much focus on the end result.

I found myself watching quite a lot of the UTMB (Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc) event over the weekend and it’s certainly got me inspired to chase a few lofty goals I’ve got coming over the next 18 months. This event is a culmination of grit, endurance, and sometimes a bit of craziness. To give you an idea of how difficult it is to complete this 175km, 10,000m elevation course, a total of 931 runners DNF’d out of 2689 starters. That’s a lot of people who have to come to terms with varying levels of failure. However, I think ultra runners are one of the people I’ve found are very reasonable when it comes to defining failure.

The reason for mentioning this is I think it’s a very tangible example of what this quote means. In a sport where you have no idea how your body will respond to stress during the event, you have to put a lot of stock in the things you can control. It’s no surprise that you hear almost all of the athletes talking about the time and effort they put into their training and preparation as if it’s the most important part of the race.

This may sound so simple but sometimes we all need that little reminder. After all, my goal with writing these things down is to prompt myself that learning the simple things should be, well… simple.

Personal note: If you care about it enough, you will put the work in!

Canon G12. ISO 125 | f4 | 1/500