Why Not You?

Hey Team!

I’m really feeling like there’s no rest for the wicked right now. Of course, a lot of this is self-induced and influenced by the choices I’m making, but I also believe it’s the era we now live in. AI gives us information and the answers we’re looking for in an instant. And while that’s incredible in so many ways, I can’t help but think it’s also negatively impacting our general ability to be patient. As a result, our expectations start to shift without us even realizing it, and boom... we’re in this vortex of stimuli that our bodies were never really built to handle.

I’ve even found myself needing to sneak in a quick 10-minute nap in the afternoon lately. Just a full nervous system reset before jumping back into the chaos.

I just got back from a quick trip to Toronto, which I’m pretty sure I spent more time traveling to than I actually spent in the city. Between missed flights, cancelled flights, delays, and all the classic airport chaos, I spent many hours across three days in airports for what was essentially a 20-hour visit. I flew in to capture some footage for an upcoming launch, and although there were definitely moments where I questioned whether the juice was worth the squeeze, it all worked out in the end. I’m happy I made it happen.

And maybe that’s the thing right now. Sometimes we don’t know if the thing is worth it until we actually get through it. You make the choice, deal with the friction, question your own sanity a little bit, and then hopefully come out the other side with something that made the effort worthwhile.

This Week’s Shift

After multiple weeks in a row, it’s becoming almost hard to believe that I’m once again sharing a performance for the ages. Between what we’ve seen recently with the sub-2 hour marathons in London and now what happened at Cocodona, it really does feel like the game of running is changing right in front of us. We are entering a new era of running and sport as we know it. And as a result, I think the running boom is about to throttle into a new gear... again.

This past week, Rachel Entrekin made history. Rachel won the Cocodona 250, the iconic 253-mile ultramarathon in Arizona, outright. First overall. Across all fields. She didn’t just win as a woman. She beat everyone. And in the process, she smashed the overall course record.

Of the hundreds of runners who started, only 268 finished. The rest DNF’d. And of those who did finish, the average finishing time was more than four full days. These aren’t people who randomly signed up for a local fun run. These are strong athletes, experienced ultra runners, and people who know how to suffer. The average pace across finishers was just under 25 minutes per mile.

Rachel’s time?

56 hours, 9 minutes, and 48 seconds.

That is an average pace of 13:28 per mile for 253 miles. And this is not some flat road race. The Cocodona course has 38,791 feet of elevation gain, which is basically like climbing Mount Kilimanjaro twice. Add in the heat, the terrain, the sleep deprivation, the darkness, and all the mental chaos that comes with running for more than two full days, and it becomes almost impossible to comprehend.

And when Rachel came through the finish, it looked like she had just finished a 10K in her hometown. Simply unbelievable.

But the coolest part of it all was the mindset shift that happened during the race. Around mile 50, Rachel admitted she was dealing with imposter syndrome while leading. She had all this negative self-talk coming up. Thinking she had gone out too fast. Thinking she was going to blow up. Thinking she had made a mistake early in the race and that it was only a matter of time before it caught up to her.

And then this mantra stuck with her: Why not you? Why can’t it be you?

For the rest of the race, she anchored herself to that belief. Not in an arrogant way. Not in a fake confidence kind of way. Just a quiet decision to believe that maybe she could actually do it. Maybe she could lead. Maybe she could win. Even as a woman in a field with everyone chasing her.

And she did exactly that.

I love this because it’s such a strong reminder that sometimes the biggest shift isn’t physical. Rachel clearly had the fitness, the preparation, and the ability. But at some point, she still had to decide she belonged there.

And how often do we all do this? We get into a room, a race, a business opportunity, a relationship, a new chapter, or some version of a bigger life, and then start questioning whether we’re allowed to be there. We look around and think someone else is more qualified, more experienced, more prepared, or more deserving.

But why not you?

That’s the shift.

From The Field

One of my closest friends called me yesterday, and I was eager to hear how her 10K went over the weekend. This was something she looks forward to every year, and we had spoken about it at the end of last week. Like always, she was eager to get a PR and really show up, regardless of how perfect or imperfect her training block had been. So when we got on the phone, the first words out of my mouth were, “How’d the run go?”

To my surprise, she told me she chose not to do it.

Knowing the person she is, and how committed she is when she says she’s going to do something, I was a little taken aback. But then she explained what had been going on. She had been dealing with extreme stomach pain. Something that had been nagging for weeks, but Friday and Saturday were especially bad. So on the morning of the run, she made the executive decision to call it. She chose not to run this year.

But of course, that decision came with all the mental gymnastics. Did she quit on herself? Did she give up? Should she have toughed it out? Isn’t this what doing hard things is all about?

Not that Rachel was referenced in our conversation, but in the context above, can you imagine what Rachel went through over 253 miles? There would have been endless moments where her mind and body were negotiating with each other.

And this is where I think it gets really important. Because the answer isn’t always to push harder.

The answer is to take agency over your own health. You are in control of your vehicle. No one else. And guess what? You are also the one who has to deal with the outcome. Not Instagram. Not the people at the finish line. Not the voice in your head trying to prove something. You. We need to remove the ego and emotion from the equation and pick our battles accordingly.

I always like doing a risk assessment in situations like this. My friend wasn’t going to be on the podium. She wasn’t going to earn an entry into an elite race. It was a personal commitment for a charitable cause, which is equally important, and in some ways, maybe even more important. But it still wasn’t worth risking more harm to her body with an undiagnosed health concern. There will be more 10Ks. There will be more charitable events. There will be more opportunities to show up and give a PR effort.

This just wasn’t her day. And that is perfectly okay.

We need to know when our minds are quitting and when our bodies are giving us real information. A cliché comment in marathons, ultras, and endurance sports is that the mind quits well before the body does. And while that might be true most of the time, we still need to decipher what’s actually true in the moment. Fatigue and tightness are one thing. Pain is another. Especially pain that has been lingering, building, or doesn’t make sense.

We’re all going to have days like this. You can’t win them all. You won’t make every start line. You won’t always get the result you wanted. But what matters most is what you do after. In this case, get healthy, get another 10K on the calendar, and go give it a PR effort.

That’s not quitting. That’s playing the long game.

Quick Reminders Before You Start:

A few weeks ago, I was down at the G1M Ultra in Austin, Texas. This is where my friend Kendall placed second by running over 300 miles and completing 76 loops. The footwear company KANE just released a short YouTube film on it yesterday called ENDURE, and it’s so inspiring.

It’s 38 minutes, and if you have the time, I highly recommend watching it. These efforts are hard to fully understand until you see them up close, and this film does a great job capturing the grit, emotion, and community that make events like this so special.

Not every start line is meant to be crossed on the day we planned. Sometimes the strongest move is having the awareness to step back, reset, and choose the next one with even more intention.

Catch you on the Start Line,
—Matty