The only race I ever bailed in my life was the Voet of Africa marathon. It was 1998, and after 10 comrades marathons in a row, the endurance decade caught up with me and I physically burnt out. My body crashed with Glandular Fever. Burnout doesn't appear overnight. It builds slowly.
I never knew how badly ill I was until that marathon. I attempted it on a sick body in the blistering hot heat. I got to the bottom of the mountain and I knew I was in trouble! I was gasping for breath just 14km in. My running partner said to me: "Lara, if you go up this mountain, you are not coming off."
He was dead serious and I believed him. With death staring me down the barrel, I really had no choice but to listen to my body and quit the race. Sometimes quitting is the only option. Of the 142 Marathons I did to date, that one was the only one I never completed.
High performers don't make emotional decisions and decide to continue a bad decision regardless. They quit a bad plan when required, cut their losses and learn the lesson. If you're a leader, you've had that moment when pulling the rug on something is more productive than losing more money on it if pursued. That's your Kilometer 70.
- Diagnose: Name it. Is your long-term trajectory threatened?
- Stability: I calculated the cost of stopping vs continuing. The price (my life) was too high. I quit.
- Reframe: High performers ask: "What is the lesson of quitting this time?" Smartest performers build recovery into their lives before burnout happens.
In extenuating circumstances, to win, is to quit. Metabolise your pain and convert your suffering into a signal.
Lara Kaplan
Kilometer 70 Blog™
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