Power of the Mind
My good friend Chris and me on top of a mountain in Patagonia, March 2019. We’d been in a snow/hail storm the day before so we were very happy to have this moment of sunshine and beauty.
A lot of what I focus on here, and in training in general is physical. Will my body be able to withstand 14 hours in the saddle? Will I be able to run the 13 miles back to a horse station (or forward) if I fall off in the middle of a leg? Will I be too cold, too hot, too wet? Will I be strong enough, limber enough, hardy enough to make it through?
But what matters just as much, if not more, is the mental fortitude. During the training camp, and during the November fitness camp I did, Stevie incorporated meditation sessions. It’s not about if or when you will be in pain, but how you can handle that pain and push yourself through. The pain is now, with your present self. How would your past self feel about an action your present self takes? What would your future self think, looking back? Thinking about pain or hardship as a present-self problem and trying to live up to the expectations of my past and future self is an interesting frame. Steve Prefontaine said “pain is weakness leaving the body”, and while I’m not quite as masochistic as the man who also said “the only race pace is a suicide pace, and today is a good day to die”, I take his first statement in tandem with Stevie’s to mean that pain is fleeting, but your accomplishments are something that can’t be taken away. Putting up with the temporary pain for the permanent pride or knowledge that you did or can do something is worth it.
This also ties in with the idea of Type II fun, something Stevie talks about a lot, and something that people into extreme sports are avidly familiar with. Type II fun is fun that might be painful or hard or unpleasant while you’re doing it, but looking back it was incredible and amazing and worth it. While the Mongol Derby itself is probably a great example of Type II fun, it’s also important to ensure you take time for Type I fun (what we all think of as “fun”) along the way. Look around and enjoy the moments of breathtaking beauty. Acknowledge your terror as your horse bolts across the steppe, but then enjoy the wind in your face, the tears on your cheeks, and the feeling of flying that you may never get again.
At the end of the camp, we went around and did “rose and thorn” which is something that my friends and I also do. The “rose” is the best part, the “thorn” is the worst, but you acknowledge that good and bad come together and are intertwined, just like all roses have thorns. Looking back at the camp, I was a little overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work I needed to do to get ready for the derby, and was starting to get stressed about how to fit it in with my day job, and still have time to eat and sleep and maybe talk to a friend once in a while. Stevie made the point that this should all be fun. The journey to get there is a huge part of the Mongol Derby, so ensuring you’re “stopping to smell the roses” is key to not burning yourself out. It shouldn’t be so all-consuming that you’re neglecting other pieces of your life.
After all, not everyone finishes the derby, and many of those who do have to limp along with assistance and finish in the adventure category - which is still an insanely amazing accomplishment. But you have to be okay with making it all the way to Mongolia, having prepared an insane amount, and then having a freak accident at the starting line take you out. It has happened. They say that it is 20% preparation, and 80% luck out there. So you try to get the 20% as controlled and prepared as you can, and then you have to be okay with whatever the 80% will bring your way.
You also need to think through scenarios and make your decisions ahead of time. Out there on the steppe, everything feels like a life or death decision (and may actually be). But you’re under so much physical, mental, and emotional stress, that it’s hard to make a good decision at the time. You may be sleep deprived, dehydrated, and carb starved, so your brain is not working well. Having thought through as many scenarios as possible, and agreeing with your partner what the decision will be in each one of them takes away that stress of considering options in the heat of the moment.
I’m not sure what the derby holds. I know this process will be life altering, but I don’t know how, or if it will be life altering now versus in the future. All I do know is that my teenage self would be pretty proud of and impressed by my present self. My future self will hopefully look back on this adventure and be able to identify a lot of learning and growth - as well as a lot of enjoyment and fun - even if just in retrospect.