I want to talk to you about your most valuable asset. And no, I don't mean your backside. I do mean something else in particular. And this is your most valuable asset when it comes to being the best runner that you can possibly be.
Welcome to Runner's High, a show where we talk about everything running. I'm your host Jesse Funk. If you like running, hit subscribe. Stick around for more episodes every Tuesday and Thursday.
Now, this is clearly my opinion, but I'm going to make a case for it, and I want to share what I believe to be your most valuable asset. No, it's not hustling. It's not working hard. No, it's not your genetic potential. No, it's not that special concoction or brew that you've been drinking. No, it's not your training schedule or your coach.
The most valuable asset you can have to be the best runner you can possibly be is the memory of a goldfish. Yes, I said it. I want you to have a terrible memory. And to be more accurate, I actually want you to be more like a royal blue tang like dory from Finding Nemo. I want you to be able to forget very quickly now.
Why am I saying this is your most valuable asset? Isn't hard work? What's required to be great? Yeah, it is. But the thing is that many, many people have the ability to work hard. What they don't necessarily have is the ability to forget how much that hurt to work that hard just yesterday or for that last race.
You have to be willing and able to forget the pain of the experience that you went through to be able to do it again. It's something that I think comes with practice or maybe just comes naturally to people like me who have a little bit of A.D.D. or brains flit from thing to thing and forget about the thing that we were thinking about 5 minutes ago.
But if you have a short memory and you forget about how much it hurts, you're more likely to push today because you're not going to flinch away from "Oh, I remember how uncomfortable I was. I remember how much I struggled. I remember how much it hurt." If you forget all of those things you can go through and experience it new. Experience it in a way that deep down maybe you remember, oh, it's familiar, but you're not shying away from it.
And there's research to back up my opinion to. Clever of me to find that. Suggests basically we'll rate our pain a particular way right after we finish our race. And then sometime on from that we'll look back on that pain and rate it as less than the actual event that it happened, meaning that we don't remember that pain as vividly as when it actually occurred, which allows us, I think, adaptively to move on and do the next thing.
Kind of interestingly, people that had a really good experience and say did well in their race, we'll remember that pain being less than people that had a poor race, which seems really accurate. Right? If you had a bad time, you're going to remember that a little bit more vividly than if you had a good time. You're going to go, Yeah, it was great. That's great. Yeah, it hurt, but I hit my time. You're overcome with the joy of actually doing the thing you wanted to do versus, "Oh, I suffered. And I also didn't get the thing that I wanted." It kind of doubles down the effect.
All that being said, being able to practice this is a little bit of mindfulness, right? Letting go of the past and trying to live in the present. When you let go, that allows your body and your mind to forget about the past and be present here.
So do you think I'm wrong? Do you think I'm right? Either way, leave your comments down in the comments below. Leave your comments in the comments below. Leave them in the comments below. Tell me what you think. I'd love to hear from you. Do you think something else is your most valuable asset? I'll see you next time on the next episode of Runner's High.