My wife and kids had an absolute blast on our recent trip to Disney World and I was really happy that they did. Although I enjoyed myself, I don’t need to go back to Disney any time soon. I prefer nature to theme parks, quiet to loud and small groups to huge crowds. I was joking with some friends last night about the experience. My friends said that it made sense that I didn’t like the crowds at Disney since I love to spend hours running alone in the woods and the ability to step off the trail and pee on a tree.
I knew I was going to be uncomfortable when we planned the Disney trip but I also recognized that this trip was for my family, not me. My wife and family do a lot for me and the least that I could do was act pleasantly and engage with everyone for our time at Disney. I overheard another dad arguing with his wife while we were at Disney.
“I am absolutely not going on the It’s a Small World Ride!”.
This dad was having a tantrum, he raised his voice and was making a scene. Unfortunately, this was a familiar scene to me – I was that man baby, ten years ago. I could not handle being uncomfortable and would complain and act out. Ultra running has really helped me deal with discomfort. I can now rationalize that discomfort is temporary and that it is not worth getting upset about. Why stress yourself out about something you can’t change? It’s much easier to have a positive attitude and deal with the situation while it lasts. Author Adharand Finn talks about this in his new book, The Rise of the Ultra Runners. Finn recounts his first ultra marathon, he travelled to Oman for the Oman Desert Ultramarathon. When he arrived at the Oman airport, he was told that he needed to spend eight hours overnight in the airport before being taken to his hotel. He complained and made a scene with one of the organizers, which didn’t help. When he finally realized that there was nothing he could do, he saw that fellow racers had already accepted the delay and had set up small camps with their sleeping bags. This is the mindset of an ultrarunner at work. Even though a situation sucks, you realize that it’s temporary, look for a solution and try to make the best of it. It doesn’t benefit anyone to be a man baby and complain. I might not want to go back to Disney but I know that my family does. When the time comes, I’ll be fine. If I can last through 100 miles of running, I can certainly last through a day or two at Disney.
