There’s a cliché which I’m sure even aliens have heard; ‘Life is a marathon, not a sprint’ I’d like to propose an alternative, life is, in fact an ultramarathon. Period. Allow me to explain.
I recently completed another ultramarathon, my first at the 100 mile distance. On reflection, it was a micro-study into how I define, assess and solve problems. How well do I emotionally regulate when facing torrential rain (again) or hail? Or snow? Or wind so strong it stops me in my tracks? What about when I haven’t slept for over 30 hours? What do I do when I can no longer keep solid food down, when everything I try is rejected by my body? How do I deal with wet gloves and wet feet which won’t be dry until i get across the finish line? The truth is, I just keep going. Relentless pursuit. You see, these things and more will happen in various manifestations in the real world. Outside of the race environment we are continually thrust problems to solve and situations which we’ve never navigated before. We are invited to use our big beautiful brains to solve, and to, more than anything – I suspect – trust ourselves.
When friends and family have remarked that they ‘don’t know how’ I did it (the miler) I reply with ‘I just decided to’ As the mindset you carry from the beginning, will help see you through to the end, despite the tumultuous nature of whatever challenges and victories you may face. This is why life is an ultramarathon not a marathon. An ultra brings extremes, just as life does. Huge victories, and immense losses. Consider the most profound types of life experiences; the birth of a child and the death of a parent. Extremes in their own way, with potentially a lot of mundane miles between them. Immense joy and achingly sad moments in ones life, and while they often remain as key touch points, they’re not the entire story.
In work, regardless of career choice there will be crucial decision points. Forked roads which you may reflect on years later and wonder ‘what if I’d taken that offer?’ In the same way one can look at finish times in an ultra and wonder ‘what if I’d been able to get more carbs in over those six hours?’ these are questions we can never answer, but they provide sections of the route we travel through our lifetime.
Within the security space, the consequences are particularly profound. Like being ill-prepared for a mountainous ultra and lacking appropriate cold weather clothing, being without an adequate security posture creates a vulnerability. The attack surface expands, and with it the risk.
The key reason I argue that life is an ultramarathon and not a marathon is because an ultramarathon has far more variables – just like life. Life isn’t a sprint, although it does feel like it at times, but it’s also simplistic to propose that life is a marathon – because there are finite elements to control for in a marathon.
In an ultramarathon one must be trained, prepared, as ready as possible in both body and mind, fuelling must be planned and targeted, pacing, equipment and course choice all play a role – but so much of it will be beyond the ability to plan for, no training run will ever come close to a miler distance – so it’s constantly stepping into the unknown. Add sleep deprivation, potential gastro-intestinal issues, blistering, exposure to weather conditions which you do not have the luxury to avoid and the notion that regardless of how much training you have done it will be your mind, not your body which gets you to that finish line.
Just like in life, our mindset allows us to overcome whatever challenges may befall us, and it allows us to fall back on the victories when we are in a difficult place – we can reminisce about the positive times and use that as fuel to keep moving forward, because just like an ultra course there will be undulating terrain and the sooner we accept this and work to control the variables, the better we will be for it.
Seeline CYBER 
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