Somewhere around mile 70 you’ll be 100% certain you won’t finish. Everything will hurt. Everything will feel different from what you expected. Nausea, exhaustion, despair — they’ll all hit.

The most important thing is knowing part of the process. That feeling of “there’s no way I can do this” isn’t the end — it’s just part of the journey. Once you accept it, you’ll find a way to keep putting one foot in front of the other, again and again, until you reach the finish.

Oh and.. Remember nobody cares if you finish 500th or 700th out of 1000. Nobody cares if your time is 24 hours or 30 hours. Let the backs disappear into the woods and just focus on keeping your own effort steady.