Two Lessons I Learnt from Quitting My First 100km Ultra Marathon

In 2017, I lined up for my first ever 100km ultra marathon in Christchurch. I had trained for months leading into the race — over 2,000km of running, multiple marathons, ultra-marathons, and countless early mornings. Physically, I felt prepared. Mentally, I believed I was ready for one of the biggest endurance challenges I had ever attempted.

About 40km into the race, severe ITB pain stopped me from running. I tried walking, stretching, and convincing myself to keep going, but eventually I made one of the hardest decisions of my running journey, I quit the race after completing the marathon distance.

At the time, it felt deeply disappointing. But looking back, that race taught me two lessons that still shape how I approach leadership, business, and life today.

Lesson 1: Have the Courage to Start

You cannot finish what you never begin.

It is easy to admire big goals from a distance. It is much harder to step forward when there is uncertainty, risk, or the possibility of failure. But every meaningful journey starts before you feel fully ready.

Quitting that race did not erase the value of starting it. In many ways, starting gave me something more valuable than success : perspective, humility, and experience.

I often think about Thomas Edison’s famous reflection:

“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”

Sometimes the win is not the outcome. Sometimes the win is simply having the courage to begin.

Lesson 2: Mind Over Matter

One of the biggest lessons from endurance sport is that the body often follows the mind.

In a previous 12-hour ultra marathon in Canberra, I had faced pain and fatigue as well, but mentally I was completely committed. My internal message was simple: keep going until you are done.

This race felt different.

Leading into the 100km event, I had lost sleep due to travel and work commitments. Even before the race started, I was already questioning whether I was truly ready. Looking back, I realised something important: physically I showed up, but mentally I had already planted doubt in my own mind.

That experience reinforced something I now see clearly in leadership too:

Your mindset shapes your resilience long before the pressure arrives.

Whether in endurance sport, business, or leadership, mental preparation matters just as much as physical preparation.

I did not complete the 100km that day. But the lessons from that race stayed with me far longer than the disappointment ever did. Sometimes the experiences that challenge us the most become the ones that teach us the clearest lessons.

This was a condensed version of my original artciel that I did in 2017. The link to the original article is here:.