BASS PRO MIDWEEK MOTIVATION - Resilience will Get You to the Finish Line

Hello runner friends!

Welcome back to the Bass Pro Fitness Series

MIDWEEK M😊TIVATI😊N blog!

Now let’s get started by talking about resilience. This is a subject we’ve talked about before, but one that bears repeating in light of the crazy weather we’ve been having. There have been torrential downpours, floods, cold, and high winds all across the great state of Missouri and beyond. Which is the very reason developing the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties is so crucial for every runner. Just ask those runners who ran the Bass Pro Marathon last year in the downpour! And don’t even get me started on the massive amounts of mud that we encountered at Dogwood Canyon the following week! Only those runners who were trained in resilience crossed the finish line. 

But whether you’re a long distance runner, or prefer sticking to 5k or 10k races, developing resilience will help you in more ways than one. As Dylan McGuire can attest to. You may have seen him on the Dogwood Canyon course running and/or volunteering but he learned a thing or two about bouncing back over the weekend when race day didn’t go as planned. The flooding in Memphis where his race was held caused the event to be rerouted more than once—and at one point shut down for several hours as the Wolf River floods pounded them with rain and wind and the waters continued to rise. 

His girlfriend Jill Brockman (who frequently paces the Bass Pro Half and also runs and volunteers at Dogwood Canyon) reported that Dylan and his pacer “got caught in a crazy wind and lightning storm and we had about 20 people in the pavilion waiting on him to run down the hill cheering for him and we thought he was gonna get blown off the face of the Earth.” But despite all that, Dylan kept going. 

And… he lived to give a race report that I hope inspires you to keep going no matter what your training and/or race day holds: 

I will never be a fastie and I don’t mind being a lastie! Mother Nature tried her best to keep me from the finish line! My stomach tried to keep me from the finish line! But my NASCAR level pit crew somehow kept the wheels on and oil in the engine! I will never be able to thank my crew enough. They pulled me through! I loved the miles I got to share with them.

To my Baby! I love you so very much and thank you so much for everything you did for me (he was referring to Jill of course).

Thank you to everybody back home for checking in on me. 

To the Viper RD and volunteers thank you from the bottom of my heart. No matter the weather, you put on an outstanding event! I loved it! 

The weather was everything you hoped against and then some. 

My feet are toast! I am shaken and not stirred!

This was my first 100 and I didnt know how it would make me feel. I’ve done many hard things in my life. This one here might have taken the cake as the hardest. I’m not saying it’s a one and done. I loved the feelings of embracing the suck again and pushing through it.”

#122 out!”

See the positive mindset here? Learning to keep the joy and humor in the midst of pain and setback, as this story shows, makes all the difference in making it to the finish line. As does having positive people (that’s Jill on the left) in your corner cheering you on. This is what resilience looks like! And this is why every runner needs it. 

And there you have it friends. Cultivating a mindset that chooses to press on when training or race day doesn’t go as planned is not only crucial for finishing a race but for continuing to run at every age… something the Bass Pro Fitness Series strongly encourages. So, no matter what’s in the forecast, get out there and get training friends. Determine beforehand that you will press on the despite the inevitable setbacks that are sure to come. Marathon weekend will be here before you know it and you won’t want to miss it! Happy Running!