Dealing With Disappointment

[Listen to an audio version of this podcast here.]

I’m not sure when I was notified exactly, but it was sometime last winter. I got an email that I had been charged $400 for the honor of running 100 miles through the Angeles mountains, right here outside of L.A. The AC 100 is an iconic course and one of the first 100 mile races in the country. Last year, I paced my best friend the last 25 miles of a re-routed course that started and ended in Wrightwood, CA. Damage from wildfires necessitated this re-route and this year the course was set to go back to a point-to-point; starting in Wrightwood and ending in Altadena.

The race was scheduled for the last weekend in July, and nearly halfway into June, we all received an email stating that, due to a heavily damaged mountain road from a winter of record snow and subsequent avalanches, the race would be canceled. I felt as if the universe was hurling me back in time to 2020, when races were canceled left and right. I’ve been training for AC for months, and hearing the news of its cancellation was disheartening to say the least. The mental and physical preparation that goes into running 100 miles is not small, and I’ve spent hours running through the mountains and slinging weights around and putting together a strategy for race day. In a moment of deep self-pity, I thought, “all that training was for nothing.”