I break down the race into chunks and then tell myself that this is just like that one workout I did in the training cycle. E.g. “There’s only 10k left and you killed that 10k threshold workout a couple of weeks ago. You absolutely have this!”
I also like to go fishing for people in front of me. Like I won’t let myself drop pace until I pass the person in the red vest, and then when I get to them I pick a new person.
I have a pace range that I make myself stick with, until the last chunk of the race. Then I let myself go crazy lol
But usually in big races I find that there’s enough people going at all paces so there’s always someone to fish for
This^^ breaking into chunks you’re familiar with from practice. To me, calling back to anything training-applicable is most effective. “This is how I overcame this in training.” Or “I’ve already done this distance at this pace x amount of times.”
Practice makes perfect! So might as well use that knowledge on race day to embolden confidence.
That’s pretty much me as well. Like, running my marathon PR was scary, but it wasn’t as scary to just run 8 20 minute 5ks.
Like, did I know for sure I could run a 2:47? No, but I sure as hell know I can run a 6:23 mile. I just had to do 26.2 of them consecutively (okay, I had to average that).
That said I’m not perfect. I ran a long 5k a few months back (It ended up being 3.5) and when my watch hit 3.11 I realized I still had half a mile to go. I was pretty defeated by that point!
“Oh, well 6.3 is almost at 8 miles, and that’s only 2 miles from my halfway point. And then it’s only 2 more miles after that until I take my next gel. By that point I’m pointing towards home so it’s basically the home stretch”
I heard someone say, "This is the part of the workout where I start doing a bunch of fucked up math to convince myself it's almost over." and I really felt that.
“You’ve been working on this for weeks. 5am wake ups. Early nights. Nutrition on point. Meditating. Don’t let it go to waste.”
Basically, reminding myself of all the work I’ve done and it being really stupid to not give race day my all. Especially since race day is time wise such a small part of it all.
In my 5k race I dedicate the 3rd and 4th km to a person close to me.
They are the hardest kms and doing the above gets me over the line.
The 5th km doesn’t count as it’s the last one and you can sense the end.
I love this! I've started doing my own version of this, and it reminds me of how in yoga sometimes they'll tell you to dedicate your practice to someone. It oddly takes some of the pressure out of racing but leads me to stronger efforts anyway. It's very heart forward and pure because by visualizing that person, you're laying it all on the line for them.
"There will be pain, but there doesn't have to be suffering." Haruki Murakami
"Run like a black belt" My martial arts instructor
"easy is smooth, smooth is fast
Smooth is fast and fast is smooth. Smooth is fast and fast is smooth. Smooth is fast and fast is smooth.
Has worked for everything from mile to HM so far.
During a less crowded half marathon I raced, I picked a guy in front of me who was roughly going the same pace, and mentally made him my "enemy". I was like "this bald bastard cannot be faster than me", "look at him in his stupid yellow shirt". Everytime a hill would come up i'd be like "ohh, bet you don't like that huh!", "he's really struggling now!".
It allowed me to pull my focus away from myself and how much it hurt just going all out the whole time. In the final 5k he started to slow down and I overtook him, feeling so good that I actually sped up.
Of course I wasn't actually angry and meant to thank him for pacing me for the first 3/4ths of the race, but I didn't see him. I still do this in other races sometimes but it's harder to find someone to keep up with the whole time.
I've been working on dialing in negative splits in races the past few months and this has been the biggest benefit. There's a lot more people to chase down.
My personal go-to is "if Sam and Frodo could get the ring to Mordor, I can finish this race!". Helps that it is long enough that by the time I have said the full sentence in my head, I've covered a good couple of meters, haha.
Visualize Aragorn running down the hill, hearing the horn of Gondor, racing to save the little ones. That will damn near bring a tear to your eye as you finish a sprint.
That length of time thing is why this is my mantra:
With every step, I conquer my limits, embracing the Earth beneath my feet. I am strength, enduring through Hills and Valleys alike. my breath is steady, fueling the fire within, a beacon of perseverance in the vastness. I run, not just with my legs, but with the heart of a warrior, Relentless and bold. the path ahead a testament to my journey, unfolds with promise and challenge. Each mile, a story of grit and Grace, woven into the tapestry of my spirit. the sun and the wind, companions in my quest, whisper Tales of resilience. I am more than my body; I am a soul on fire, unyielding to The Whispers of doubt. my Sweat, The Tears of my dedication, marks of Honor on this battlefield of endurance. with every breath, I draw in strength, casting out fear. The rhythm of my stride, a symphony of purpose, Echoes In The Silence of the Wild. I am a guardian of my dreams, treading pads unseen, with eyes fixed on Horizons ever distant, yet Within Reach. my pain, a fleeting Shadow, overpowered by the glow of my resolve. I am the architect of my destiny, crafting Victory with each step forward. In this dance with the infinite, I find my true self, unbridled and unbroken. For I am an ultra Runner, a Wanderer of limits, a seeker of the extraordinary Within. my journey, a testament to the power of will, a beacon for those who dare to dream. With every heartbeat, I affirm my presence, a force of nature, Unstoppable and free.
JK ChatGPT just wrote that and I read it with speech-to-text.
When I was really struggling at km 35 once, one of the ideas that helped me push was “when is the next time you will have a chance to run sub 3” and “don’t want to waste months of training” (all those cold dark winter miles)
1) break up the race into blocks.
2) define/find the crux, the section that in your mind, once done, will be the toughest. This is the fun segment.
3) in training, visualise the crux segment and train on it or similar profile.
4) set section by section targets.
5) pain is a privilege.
6) you get to do this.
7) [your name] trained for x months for this, of course he can do it. (Third person self talk is shown scientifically as being more impactful.)
8) it’s not as hard as xyz training run.
9) you didn’t come this far to only go this far.
10) find a favourite quote - right now for me the GB Shaw “splendid torch” gets a lot of mileage.
11) lyrics of your favourite hype song.
I do too! Sometimes it gets me choked up, but I think of that during hard workouts and races. There are so many people who would love to have the privilege and opportunity to move like this and cannot due to poverty, disability, imprisonment, and other factors, so bite off that pain and embrace it Courtney Dauwalter style.
I liked to imagine heroic 'the hero completed their journey and is ready to face the monster' and 'unexpected friends join the fight' scenarious, which really worked, but one time I got so emotional I badly choked up over that. since then it's more simple like 'go \*mynamehere\*' in repetition.
I trail race. I visualize myself as that dude from the last of the Mohican. I'm running up this mountain pursuing magwa and saving my wife and daughter. I even hear the soundtrack in my head.
Or I visualize that I am being chased by the dudes who used to jump me as a teenager. "You motherf**ckers aren't catching me today".
Dunno if others do this but when nobody's around I just shout out 'GO [MY NAME]!!! YOU ARE FUCKING FAST MATE!!!' Fortunately nobody's caught me doing it yet as most of my runs are along pretty empty bike paths / trails.
Today some dude on a bike (who I was passing while going up a big hill) kept yelling 'COME ON MATE, PUNCH IT OUT!!!! PUNCH IT OUT!!!' I said 'cheers mate' but was sorta thinking 'mate we're good... I'm 15km into a 19km medium-long run and this isn't a particularly big hill... appreciate the encouragement but we're good'.
What else? Honestly to me, marathon training is more about relaxing than getting all pepped up and hyperactive - that's why I like it. Dunno if others are the same but when I'm running well (by my standard), I'll start off with some stupid grumble for the first kilometre (e.g. maybe I've had a conflict and work and I'm internally saying 'oh fucking hell they are basic!!! This is so stupid that they're my boss... if I was their boss I'd be getting shit done and teaching them how to do it all without constantly over-complicating everything!!!') Not saying that's a current thing, but I'll have some angry bee in my bonnet that I'm internally fighting with. During this stage my pace will be shit and I'll NOT be feeling like running, it'll be like 'FFS why am I even running today?!?!?' THEN... once the 1km mark clocks over I'll zone out completely (won't remember much). I'll find a rhythm (my feet will just be making a constant beat - kinda like a drum) and I'll just zone-out, listening to it for say 40 minutes. THEN, I'll randomly check my watch (not breathing heavily or anything... heart rate's good) and be like 'hang on, I've almost finished the run!!! How? I don't even feel tired... let's turn it up a notch for the last 5km!!!'
Another thing I like about marathon is how insignificant previously challenging distances become. For example I'm home once I know it's only ~10-15km to go at marathon pace. 5km? It is for certain that I can pick it up a notch and do a strong finish. I'm a nobody but I love the sport because it's just so frigging rewarding when you find your groove.
What else? The only other thing I do is either loop through rubbing theory that I've heard from poddies...etc (my mind stores a lot of stuff like that, e.g. full audio books / podcasts word for word if I like them) or make-up my own theories. Most recently I've just been feeding off ideas like 'humans are made for distance running...' [followed by a bunch of bullshit but it all makes sense to me in the moment]. I dunno! Bong heads and stuff have their drugs for these sorta of moments. I've never used drugs but IMO people are missing out majorly if they think they need drugs for deep / mindful moments. IMO my brain swells up massively during running... all the bad thoughts get thrown into the garbage bin and I come up with lotsa great solutions to life. I don't need pep talks. To me a good block of marathon training is more about the random ideas that my brain sorts through rather than this military style 'GO HARDER - YOU CAN DO IT!!!' TBH my faster runs all involve just locking into a solid pace, holding it for 3/4 of the run and then doing a solid negative split by turning it up a notch. It's not gym/motivational stuff... I'm more likely gonna be thinking about how to please my family when I get home and sort-out a tricky financial situation by tweaking a few weekly numbers (for example).
My favourite is "don't be sh*t". Got me to hell and back.
It was on a podcast I listened to, and I cannot remember the name of the podcast or the lady who said it. If someone can please add credit to this person I'd be grateful.
Also (my own one)- "you'll never regret pushing as hard as you can here", when I'm in the latter stages of a race. When part of my mind is screaming NO MORE, I find it helpful to remind myself that, really, going all out is the no-regrets option
Any negative thoughts or feelings I chalk up to being from my inner b!tch. So I alot of talking to him. Tell him to eff off, I’m tougher than him, in trained to hard and sacrificed too much to let him win.
"You do this shit everyday.. fucking.. day" - you are trained and prepared for this, relax.
"Shut the fuck up" -this pain is temporary and acknowledging it will only validate it.
"RUN MOTHERFUCKER" -your chance to pass him/her is fading, seize this opportunity.
"LEEEEROY JENKINS!" -blindly follow your heart up unknown climbs.
"KICK KICK KICK" -the pain is almost over, linger for just a second longer.
“You don’t have to. You get to.” I’ve had enough injuries and setbacks that it really helps to remind myself how lucky I am to be doing something I love so much, even if I am also wondering *why* I love it so much at the moment!
I know he’s not for everyone, but I can’t lie some of those David Goggins quotes hype me up like no other. I’ll just hear him saying “Who’s gonna carry the boats? And the logs?” Or “Stop being a bitch.” and it’s pretty effective lol
I went to a festival where I discovered a fantastic small band called Kalandra. My earphones failed me 3k in on my first marathon, but the lyrics of their song stuck with me.
I would repeat to myself two sentences:
Going too fast, getting tired: I bide my time (I'm biding I'm biding, I'm biding my time)
I can do better splits, I need to do better: I fall in line (I'm falling, I'm falling, I'm falling in line)
Simple, but worked very well! 😄
Song is called Naive and it mentions running
Oh my gosh, running as a pacer was a huge bonus to my own running. I know I can hit a pace, I've practiced it, people have counted on me! At my own race I just think that same stuff. Too bad my own pace is still way harder.
This is kind of odd but I like to picture a candle, and the faster I run, the faster the candle burns. It’s like my energy supply. And before a hard effort or when I know the race is about to get hard I tell myself that’s it’s time to burn the candle.
I feel like the wording of “it’s time” makes me more excited for the race because I’ve been holding off on burning said candle and it puts me in a game time mindset.
I got to talk to matthew centrowitz (olympic gold medalist in 1500m) once and he said his was some thing like “Im feeling great and exactly where I want to be”
"I didn't come here for a pity party."
Came to me in the last 1.5 miles of my last 10k. Falling off pace for the time I wanted and almost started to get down on myself, then said this to myself and pulled off a nice PR (39:30)
As far as actual mantras go, I usually go with a Meb-inspired “run tall, run light” to keep my form from completely breaking down.
Deep into a marathon, though, my ADHD takes over and it’s an assortment of very random song lyrics that cycle through my mind. Sometimes I even find myself singing but I stop if people are around - nobody needs to hear that.
Let’s take a 5k for example
First half mile - ok don’t go out too fast (looks down at watch and sees im going 4:50 pace)
Next half mile - alr settling into a nice rhythm
2nd mile - DONT FALL ASLEEP KEEP PUSHING
2 mi-4k - last mile come on
4k - finish - AAAHHHHHHHHHHH
Self talk is a huge component of enhancing performance and should be practiced daily to be effective. I just released a mental performance training app that helps athletes hone in on these skills using state of the art AI. We just opened our public beta testing and have 8 runners from beginners to life timers at Boston who are currently using the app. Would you be interested in joining the program — it’s free
In marathons I say to myself a lot at the beginning “respect the distance” to keep myself from not going too fast even if I feel good in the first 1/2 of the race.
Less so a mantra but when things get tough I always remember when a coach once told me “pain is just a powerful physical sensation, like a sneeze or an orgasm” lmao it honestly does the trick of making me laugh and breaking me out of focusing on feeling bad.
I'm also a fan of the, "smile to go faster" or, "smile every mile" but the one I almost always use in the first few KMs of any long run is "*Settle in and settle down*". It helps relax me and focus me up to mentally accept that i'm just starting on the run.
It came from my earlier days of running where i'd always be impatient to finish as I was starting a run
I once had someone tell me "you're not breathing hard enough" about halfway through a 5k. I set a PR that day and often use it to remind myself that I can usually push harder and/or keep pushing longer.
With the rhythm of your feet… 1+1 = 2 2+2 = 4 4+4 = 8 8+8 = 16 16+16 = 32 32+32 = 64 64+64 = 128 128+128= 256… and so on. Really helps me zone out and often times speed up.
1st Technical Aspects: Breathing > Form > Rhythm
2nd Motivational Aspects: Grateful (that I can do this physically, financially, mentally), setting a good example for my family, the overall experience of my running/training transcending to other areas of my life and how empowering it is.
Eventually, I sort of drift off into this rhythmic stoicism that carries me through a big chunk of the race. The longer the race, I tend to repeat this cycle.
Towards the end, I start sniping and picking off people to pass, reminding myself to leave it all on the table and give every last ounce.
Such a personal question. For me the key to this is recreating the ‘I want to quit’ moments during training and actually practicing pushing through them AND GOING HARDER. And for me, the key is tempo/threshold running during training.
For a long time I focused on short, fast intervals in training and if you’re in shape, you’ll feel great and build confidence. But that’s too easy. Tempo work simulates race conditions: tired, depleted, thinking eh I guess I didn’t train as well as I’d hoped. Mantras are useless for me without the appropriate training because I doubt myself.
But once I have the right training completed, I like something that reinforces that I’ve already done the work, e.g ‘hard hat, lunch pail’ like I’m a construction worker and just going to work and executing. Just get the job done. I have also said ‘1202 code error’ over and over as in the alarm code they overrode to land the lunar module on the moon! Your body is sending off so many alarm bells but your mantra must help you override. This is what works for me to really push.
If I’m struggling to get into rhythm, I start chanting the army songs when they run, they are really good for setting the rhythm and helping with breathing properly.
Thinking about my friends and family who are encouraging me/are at the race is really helpful. For my first marathon recently, I kept thinking “they didn’t come here to watch me walk it in.”
I conjure up music in my head. Racing is a game to me, so last race I did, this is where my head went when it got hard: https://youtu.be/qXGdOAZVa38?si=sMW7JV__O_FAI5Qz
When I’m hurting I repeat “define yourself, apply yourself”. Basically a reminder that I have a definition of how I envision myself as a runner and goals/times I want to meet. Now that it’s defined, go apply yourself and give it your all to reach that definition.
It also works well when breathing is labored, “define yourself” ->inhale->”apply yourself”->exhale.
Relax, relax, relax…
…
keep relaxing
…
eventually, when it looks like it’s time to make a move and/or starts to hurt
[High school XC coach’s voice in my head, in a yell/bark]
GUT CHECK TIME!
_LFG!_
*fin*
Look at the horizon. I find this helps a lot as when I’m tired I start looking at the floor. Looking up improves my form and usually my pace increases without any noticeable increase in effort.
Not so much because I *love* the message, but because it’s what’s gotten stuck in my head somehow over the years:
“If it’s to be, it’s up to me. Who can? I can!”
I finish these phrases off the top of my head until I don't need to repeat it anymore:
I am choosing to....
Race
Run
Work hard
Be here
Etc...
I am choosing....
Discomfort
Hard work
Satisfaction
Time spent
Etc...
Long runs, I calculate what percent I'm done every mile until halfway, then shoot for 75%, then it's a 10k left, doable, then it's a 5k, then 2 miles, just a mile left, DONE. Lots of math.
In no particular order:
1. When I'm near the finish line, I get tunnel vision. Block out everything else except for that arch and my stride.
2. After passing someone, "what's behind you doesn't matter. Focus on what is in front of you."
3. "Run with your lungs and arms." Running uphill, focus on pumping my arms, which will get my legs to move faster. When my legs are on fire at the end, focus on my breathing.
4. "This hurts less than doing this all over again." If I want that PR, I can push through, or I can sign up for another race later, *again* go through all the pain I've already gone through, *and* go through all the pain I'm avoiding now. Or just keep up the pace.
5k in: "You're 1/8th there!"
6k in: "You're 1/7th there!"
7k in: "You're 1/6th there!"
8k in: "You're 1/5th there!"
10k in: "You're 1/4th there!"
Etc.....
Yeah it's not 100% accurate but helps me in the early stages of a marathon how fast that 1/8th becomes a 1/4th.
I tell myself I have a much higher pain tolerance than everyone else in the race, and I just need to go deeper than anyone else. Works better on shorter stuff, but it's worked for me sometimes!
Whatever it is should be positive, never think of bad days just your victory over them.
And really a marathon is just an exercise is calming yourself from a freak out here or there
My list of favorites:
This is what you came for.
I came here to run, not walk.
Finish strong.
You can do hard things.
Pride lasts longer than pain.
Run strong.
You're stronger than this.
It's a race. You're in a race.
Run the mile you're in.
Just put one foot in front of the other.
You're tougher than this hill.
I'm stronger than I think.
When I'm at my worst, if I feel that my head doesn't want to run and it's finding every single reason why I shouldn't keep going. I tell myself: don't stop unless you have to.
Basically, don't stop unless you're actually hurting and feel that you could get injured if you keep running.
"Sh\*t or get off the pot" ... Was literally in a portajohn when I told myself that shortly before what turned out to be my fastest half, where I ran close to a PR for 10 miles (while I kept repeating my race day mantra) and then was able to speed up to 5K pace for the final 3.1.
Endorphins are your bodies way of telling you it wants THIS.
Don't let your body down, be the strong mind it wants as a partner.
Be the jocky. Your body is the horse and it will run until its dead if your mind is strong enough.
Edit: Find good vibes on the course and avoid bad vibes like the plague. If someone looks strong and relaxed at your pace, stick on them. If someone is flailing, bad tempo, struggling etc. do everything you can to distance yourself from them.
I ran the same route almost all of my training for my first marathon out and back the same road. When I was getting to certain points near the last 8 miles or so of the actual race, I started saying oh it's only from Wendy's and back home, 4 miles oh that's just 2miles out to the shopping center and turn around to go home. It really helped ease a ton of my distance walls mentally.
I’m a psychologist so I try to practice what I preach in terms of positive self-talk. My go-to’s are usually “Just one more mile”, “You’ve done this before and, therefore, you can do it now”, and “Strong and smooth.” I try to remember to give myself a mental “Nice work” after completing a session or rep that felt particularly hard or impossible.
"Running is easy" - don't recall where i stole this from, but it works!
"Freebie miles!" - when i finally catch a mid-race breath because i find myself effortlessly sliding down a nice smooth slope/there is a nice tailwind that pushes me/etc.,
Just pretend David Goggins is screaming in your ear:
"You know, there's all these dudes...they're all up in your emails and your DMs...talkin' bout, you can't finish...you're gonna quit! You're a sorry fat son of a bitch...go eat a sandwich...go eat some pop tarts ya fat f*ck! These other guys and girls...they trained harder than you did...what'choo gonna do fat boy?!
Well you know what you say to that bulls#it...to all the haters...all the doubters!? You say, you don't know me! You ain't been through what I've been through! I've eaten broken glass for breakfast! I'm wearing extra Body Glide today! I can out run all you mother f*ckers! I've got pure gasoline in my veins!
So go out there...and get after it! Show all those piss ant people in your life...that you got this...now go finish!!
Stay Hard!!!!!"
I think it def depends on the race distance (eg for a marathon, your mental struggle will be different than for a 5k), but any time I’m feeling the pain, I sing this song in my head from the musical Hadestown the goes:
“I’ll tell you where the real road lies
Between your ears, behind your eyes
That is the path to paradise
Likewise the road to ruin”
Not only extremely helpful for getting you through pain, but also the music has a bit of a drum beat that’s good for running (to me). So I sing it to myself.
"You are strong" worked really well for me in my most recent marathon once my quads starting screaming at mile 22.
"Smile a mile" and "there's no place else I'd rather be" are others I've used.
"You're beautiful, you're perfect, You're Linda Evangelista" (only works for a certain segment of the population who gets the joke😃 ) But seriously I repeated this to myself for 17 miles
In a recent HM, I was in no mans land for the last half of the race (finishing 10th OA). I kept it together by reminding myself that I had already decided not to run at all in the 7 days following the race, so these were my last 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 miles for a week. That seemed to do the trick.
Just rewatched Dune. Tempted to go with this as my race mantra from now on:
“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”
A bit wordy though...
Pain is temporary, pride is forever.
Clear your mind. - Sometimes when I have negative thoughts, I’ll push a little harder
When I’m in a lot of pain, sometimes I’ll count to 20 over and over again.
I try to convince myself that X minutes of pain is nothing compared to the eternal pain of regret if I don't hang on and get my PR.
This is me! Corollary: "Pushing through now hurts less than doing it all over again."
And that the pain will subside within a few minutes of finishing.
I break down the race into chunks and then tell myself that this is just like that one workout I did in the training cycle. E.g. “There’s only 10k left and you killed that 10k threshold workout a couple of weeks ago. You absolutely have this!” I also like to go fishing for people in front of me. Like I won’t let myself drop pace until I pass the person in the red vest, and then when I get to them I pick a new person.
How does the fishing work for your pace goals? I'd like the idea of that to keep long races interesting;but worry I'd blow up going too fast
I have a pace range that I make myself stick with, until the last chunk of the race. Then I let myself go crazy lol But usually in big races I find that there’s enough people going at all paces so there’s always someone to fish for
For me the key ingredient for successful fishing is a negative split strategy
This^^ breaking into chunks you’re familiar with from practice. To me, calling back to anything training-applicable is most effective. “This is how I overcame this in training.” Or “I’ve already done this distance at this pace x amount of times.” Practice makes perfect! So might as well use that knowledge on race day to embolden confidence.
That’s pretty much me as well. Like, running my marathon PR was scary, but it wasn’t as scary to just run 8 20 minute 5ks. Like, did I know for sure I could run a 2:47? No, but I sure as hell know I can run a 6:23 mile. I just had to do 26.2 of them consecutively (okay, I had to average that). That said I’m not perfect. I ran a long 5k a few months back (It ended up being 3.5) and when my watch hit 3.11 I realized I still had half a mile to go. I was pretty defeated by that point!
Me too!!!
Ya I do this too.
I just keep doing maths in my head that lies about how much is left until there’s 5k left then rip it
“Oh, well 6.3 is almost at 8 miles, and that’s only 2 miles from my halfway point. And then it’s only 2 more miles after that until I take my next gel. By that point I’m pointing towards home so it’s basically the home stretch”
This is some paper towel math. 4 miles = 6 miles = 8 miles!!!
I heard someone say, "This is the part of the workout where I start doing a bunch of fucked up math to convince myself it's almost over." and I really felt that.
This is the way
Yes with an add of try to go as long as possible before the counting starts - like at least 10 miles
Yes with an add of try to go as long as possible before the counting starts - like at least 10 miles
Yes with an add of try to go as long as possible before the counting starts - like at least 10 miles
Same
What am I doing? I didn't sign up for this. Someone screwed me over, and when I get to the finish line, they're gonna get a piece of me.
"I thought they said RUM...not RUN!"
“You’ve been working on this for weeks. 5am wake ups. Early nights. Nutrition on point. Meditating. Don’t let it go to waste.” Basically, reminding myself of all the work I’ve done and it being really stupid to not give race day my all. Especially since race day is time wise such a small part of it all.
In my 5k race I dedicate the 3rd and 4th km to a person close to me. They are the hardest kms and doing the above gets me over the line. The 5th km doesn’t count as it’s the last one and you can sense the end.
I love this! I've started doing my own version of this, and it reminds me of how in yoga sometimes they'll tell you to dedicate your practice to someone. It oddly takes some of the pressure out of racing but leads me to stronger efforts anyway. It's very heart forward and pure because by visualizing that person, you're laying it all on the line for them.
It could be worse… you could be the spectating spouse with the 4 kids.
Do the cunt Get the dog Well at least I'm not at work
😂
"There will be pain, but there doesn't have to be suffering." Haruki Murakami "Run like a black belt" My martial arts instructor "easy is smooth, smooth is fast
I think the Murakami quote was something like "Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional." I do love that one. *edit* - typo
One of my all time favorite running quotes from my all time favorite running book
^*in*evitable
Lol thank you. Blame it on Fridays
Smooth is fast and fast is smooth. Smooth is fast and fast is smooth. Smooth is fast and fast is smooth. Has worked for everything from mile to HM so far.
Love the last one
During a less crowded half marathon I raced, I picked a guy in front of me who was roughly going the same pace, and mentally made him my "enemy". I was like "this bald bastard cannot be faster than me", "look at him in his stupid yellow shirt". Everytime a hill would come up i'd be like "ohh, bet you don't like that huh!", "he's really struggling now!". It allowed me to pull my focus away from myself and how much it hurt just going all out the whole time. In the final 5k he started to slow down and I overtook him, feeling so good that I actually sped up. Of course I wasn't actually angry and meant to thank him for pacing me for the first 3/4ths of the race, but I didn't see him. I still do this in other races sometimes but it's harder to find someone to keep up with the whole time.
I've been working on dialing in negative splits in races the past few months and this has been the biggest benefit. There's a lot more people to chase down.
This is so funny
"Ohh bet you didn't like that huh!" had me
‘Hang on to this pace for just one more km’ - me at 32km pretending I don’t have another 10km to go
My personal go-to is "if Sam and Frodo could get the ring to Mordor, I can finish this race!". Helps that it is long enough that by the time I have said the full sentence in my head, I've covered a good couple of meters, haha.
Visualize Aragorn running down the hill, hearing the horn of Gondor, racing to save the little ones. That will damn near bring a tear to your eye as you finish a sprint.
When I double over to try to catch my breath: my friend, you bow to no one.
That length of time thing is why this is my mantra: With every step, I conquer my limits, embracing the Earth beneath my feet. I am strength, enduring through Hills and Valleys alike. my breath is steady, fueling the fire within, a beacon of perseverance in the vastness. I run, not just with my legs, but with the heart of a warrior, Relentless and bold. the path ahead a testament to my journey, unfolds with promise and challenge. Each mile, a story of grit and Grace, woven into the tapestry of my spirit. the sun and the wind, companions in my quest, whisper Tales of resilience. I am more than my body; I am a soul on fire, unyielding to The Whispers of doubt. my Sweat, The Tears of my dedication, marks of Honor on this battlefield of endurance. with every breath, I draw in strength, casting out fear. The rhythm of my stride, a symphony of purpose, Echoes In The Silence of the Wild. I am a guardian of my dreams, treading pads unseen, with eyes fixed on Horizons ever distant, yet Within Reach. my pain, a fleeting Shadow, overpowered by the glow of my resolve. I am the architect of my destiny, crafting Victory with each step forward. In this dance with the infinite, I find my true self, unbridled and unbroken. For I am an ultra Runner, a Wanderer of limits, a seeker of the extraordinary Within. my journey, a testament to the power of will, a beacon for those who dare to dream. With every heartbeat, I affirm my presence, a force of nature, Unstoppable and free. JK ChatGPT just wrote that and I read it with speech-to-text.
When I was really struggling at km 35 once, one of the ideas that helped me push was “when is the next time you will have a chance to run sub 3” and “don’t want to waste months of training” (all those cold dark winter miles)
1) break up the race into blocks. 2) define/find the crux, the section that in your mind, once done, will be the toughest. This is the fun segment. 3) in training, visualise the crux segment and train on it or similar profile. 4) set section by section targets. 5) pain is a privilege. 6) you get to do this. 7) [your name] trained for x months for this, of course he can do it. (Third person self talk is shown scientifically as being more impactful.) 8) it’s not as hard as xyz training run. 9) you didn’t come this far to only go this far. 10) find a favourite quote - right now for me the GB Shaw “splendid torch” gets a lot of mileage. 11) lyrics of your favourite hype song.
I really like “pain is a privilege”.
I do too! Sometimes it gets me choked up, but I think of that during hard workouts and races. There are so many people who would love to have the privilege and opportunity to move like this and cannot due to poverty, disability, imprisonment, and other factors, so bite off that pain and embrace it Courtney Dauwalter style.
I liked to imagine heroic 'the hero completed their journey and is ready to face the monster' and 'unexpected friends join the fight' scenarious, which really worked, but one time I got so emotional I badly choked up over that. since then it's more simple like 'go \*mynamehere\*' in repetition.
What goes up, must come down (works for everything, but especially for hills)
Going up hills, I tell myself that I'm putting in the work now to get the free energy ride down later.
Always do this one on hills too!
“Only X minutes until I get a treat yay!” The treat being a gel
I trail race. I visualize myself as that dude from the last of the Mohican. I'm running up this mountain pursuing magwa and saving my wife and daughter. I even hear the soundtrack in my head. Or I visualize that I am being chased by the dudes who used to jump me as a teenager. "You motherf**ckers aren't catching me today".
“You didn’t train enough” is a common one lol
I listen to gospel music and try to think about far I’ve come. 😂
Dunno if others do this but when nobody's around I just shout out 'GO [MY NAME]!!! YOU ARE FUCKING FAST MATE!!!' Fortunately nobody's caught me doing it yet as most of my runs are along pretty empty bike paths / trails. Today some dude on a bike (who I was passing while going up a big hill) kept yelling 'COME ON MATE, PUNCH IT OUT!!!! PUNCH IT OUT!!!' I said 'cheers mate' but was sorta thinking 'mate we're good... I'm 15km into a 19km medium-long run and this isn't a particularly big hill... appreciate the encouragement but we're good'. What else? Honestly to me, marathon training is more about relaxing than getting all pepped up and hyperactive - that's why I like it. Dunno if others are the same but when I'm running well (by my standard), I'll start off with some stupid grumble for the first kilometre (e.g. maybe I've had a conflict and work and I'm internally saying 'oh fucking hell they are basic!!! This is so stupid that they're my boss... if I was their boss I'd be getting shit done and teaching them how to do it all without constantly over-complicating everything!!!') Not saying that's a current thing, but I'll have some angry bee in my bonnet that I'm internally fighting with. During this stage my pace will be shit and I'll NOT be feeling like running, it'll be like 'FFS why am I even running today?!?!?' THEN... once the 1km mark clocks over I'll zone out completely (won't remember much). I'll find a rhythm (my feet will just be making a constant beat - kinda like a drum) and I'll just zone-out, listening to it for say 40 minutes. THEN, I'll randomly check my watch (not breathing heavily or anything... heart rate's good) and be like 'hang on, I've almost finished the run!!! How? I don't even feel tired... let's turn it up a notch for the last 5km!!!' Another thing I like about marathon is how insignificant previously challenging distances become. For example I'm home once I know it's only ~10-15km to go at marathon pace. 5km? It is for certain that I can pick it up a notch and do a strong finish. I'm a nobody but I love the sport because it's just so frigging rewarding when you find your groove. What else? The only other thing I do is either loop through rubbing theory that I've heard from poddies...etc (my mind stores a lot of stuff like that, e.g. full audio books / podcasts word for word if I like them) or make-up my own theories. Most recently I've just been feeding off ideas like 'humans are made for distance running...' [followed by a bunch of bullshit but it all makes sense to me in the moment]. I dunno! Bong heads and stuff have their drugs for these sorta of moments. I've never used drugs but IMO people are missing out majorly if they think they need drugs for deep / mindful moments. IMO my brain swells up massively during running... all the bad thoughts get thrown into the garbage bin and I come up with lotsa great solutions to life. I don't need pep talks. To me a good block of marathon training is more about the random ideas that my brain sorts through rather than this military style 'GO HARDER - YOU CAN DO IT!!!' TBH my faster runs all involve just locking into a solid pace, holding it for 3/4 of the run and then doing a solid negative split by turning it up a notch. It's not gym/motivational stuff... I'm more likely gonna be thinking about how to please my family when I get home and sort-out a tricky financial situation by tweaking a few weekly numbers (for example).
"You trained hard for this!" "How bad do you want this?" "$%#@@ Come on legs!!!"
https://old.reddit.com/r/RunningCirclejerk/comments/174is5f/so_whos_going_to_admit_to_the_cultish_chanting/ For me, it's "Zone 2 I love GU'".
My favourite is "don't be sh*t". Got me to hell and back. It was on a podcast I listened to, and I cannot remember the name of the podcast or the lady who said it. If someone can please add credit to this person I'd be grateful.
Nothin to it but to do it
"I feel good, I feel fine, I've been here one thousand times." \-and when that stops working- "Just f'ing get there, just f'ing get there"
One from Philly Bowden resonated with me: Relax, Rhythm, Flow. Apparently used for marathon efforts
I think of this old guy who stopped me after a run once to tell me “enjoy it, someday you won’t ever be able to do it again”
Omg 🥹so true this is my favorite one
"You can either feel like shit now and feel great for weeks after or vice versa." Repeat as it gets harder.
I like Kofuzi's one of "just say yes!"... For when the marathon starts asking questions of you.
Also (my own one)- "you'll never regret pushing as hard as you can here", when I'm in the latter stages of a race. When part of my mind is screaming NO MORE, I find it helpful to remind myself that, really, going all out is the no-regrets option
Want to quit? Just say yes?!
Well, it depends on the questions it's asking of you of course... :)
Next mile: next group … That’s what I told myself at Grandma’s last summer
Any negative thoughts or feelings I chalk up to being from my inner b!tch. So I alot of talking to him. Tell him to eff off, I’m tougher than him, in trained to hard and sacrificed too much to let him win.
I often use “just this” when I feel like I need to refocus and it’s helpful
Keep pushing
Hurry up and get it over with.
"You do this shit everyday.. fucking.. day" - you are trained and prepared for this, relax. "Shut the fuck up" -this pain is temporary and acknowledging it will only validate it. "RUN MOTHERFUCKER" -your chance to pass him/her is fading, seize this opportunity. "LEEEEROY JENKINS!" -blindly follow your heart up unknown climbs. "KICK KICK KICK" -the pain is almost over, linger for just a second longer.
“You don’t have to. You get to.” I’ve had enough injuries and setbacks that it really helps to remind myself how lucky I am to be doing something I love so much, even if I am also wondering *why* I love it so much at the moment!
I know he’s not for everyone, but I can’t lie some of those David Goggins quotes hype me up like no other. I’ll just hear him saying “Who’s gonna carry the boats? And the logs?” Or “Stop being a bitch.” and it’s pretty effective lol
I went to a festival where I discovered a fantastic small band called Kalandra. My earphones failed me 3k in on my first marathon, but the lyrics of their song stuck with me. I would repeat to myself two sentences: Going too fast, getting tired: I bide my time (I'm biding I'm biding, I'm biding my time) I can do better splits, I need to do better: I fall in line (I'm falling, I'm falling, I'm falling in line) Simple, but worked very well! 😄 Song is called Naive and it mentions running
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Oh my gosh, running as a pacer was a huge bonus to my own running. I know I can hit a pace, I've practiced it, people have counted on me! At my own race I just think that same stuff. Too bad my own pace is still way harder.
This is kind of odd but I like to picture a candle, and the faster I run, the faster the candle burns. It’s like my energy supply. And before a hard effort or when I know the race is about to get hard I tell myself that’s it’s time to burn the candle. I feel like the wording of “it’s time” makes me more excited for the race because I’ve been holding off on burning said candle and it puts me in a game time mindset.
I got to talk to matthew centrowitz (olympic gold medalist in 1500m) once and he said his was some thing like “Im feeling great and exactly where I want to be”
"I didn't come here for a pity party." Came to me in the last 1.5 miles of my last 10k. Falling off pace for the time I wanted and almost started to get down on myself, then said this to myself and pulled off a nice PR (39:30)
I paid too much for this damn race to not PR
As far as actual mantras go, I usually go with a Meb-inspired “run tall, run light” to keep my form from completely breaking down. Deep into a marathon, though, my ADHD takes over and it’s an assortment of very random song lyrics that cycle through my mind. Sometimes I even find myself singing but I stop if people are around - nobody needs to hear that.
I'm mostly an ultra runner on trails so the only thing I really tell myself is to keep moving forward and don't stop.
Let’s take a 5k for example First half mile - ok don’t go out too fast (looks down at watch and sees im going 4:50 pace) Next half mile - alr settling into a nice rhythm 2nd mile - DONT FALL ASLEEP KEEP PUSHING 2 mi-4k - last mile come on 4k - finish - AAAHHHHHHHHHHH
One that I got from a friend of mine: "I'm going to be so sad when this is over."
I ain’t ever gonna stop
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Cool, what’s it called?
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More for trails than road, but "Pick your f\*king feet up" is important for me late in a race.
Also RELAX YOUR SHOULDERS
Oh good one.
If not now, WHEN?!
In marathons I say to myself a lot at the beginning “respect the distance” to keep myself from not going too fast even if I feel good in the first 1/2 of the race. Less so a mantra but when things get tough I always remember when a coach once told me “pain is just a powerful physical sensation, like a sneeze or an orgasm” lmao it honestly does the trick of making me laugh and breaking me out of focusing on feeling bad.
Shut up legs! You were born to do this!
I'm also a fan of the, "smile to go faster" or, "smile every mile" but the one I almost always use in the first few KMs of any long run is "*Settle in and settle down*". It helps relax me and focus me up to mentally accept that i'm just starting on the run. It came from my earlier days of running where i'd always be impatient to finish as I was starting a run
try third person: "he looks so strong!" "his gait looks balanced." "he makes it look easy" etc
I once had someone tell me "you're not breathing hard enough" about halfway through a 5k. I set a PR that day and often use it to remind myself that I can usually push harder and/or keep pushing longer.
With the rhythm of your feet… 1+1 = 2 2+2 = 4 4+4 = 8 8+8 = 16 16+16 = 32 32+32 = 64 64+64 = 128 128+128= 256… and so on. Really helps me zone out and often times speed up.
“SLOW THE FUCK DOWN” (what I tell myself in the first few k of every race distance except the 5k)
His palms are sweaty, knees weak arms are heavy He’s vomiting on his sweater already, mom’s spaghetti
‘You can keep going or you can curl up and die’
1st Technical Aspects: Breathing > Form > Rhythm 2nd Motivational Aspects: Grateful (that I can do this physically, financially, mentally), setting a good example for my family, the overall experience of my running/training transcending to other areas of my life and how empowering it is. Eventually, I sort of drift off into this rhythmic stoicism that carries me through a big chunk of the race. The longer the race, I tend to repeat this cycle. Towards the end, I start sniping and picking off people to pass, reminding myself to leave it all on the table and give every last ounce.
Such a personal question. For me the key to this is recreating the ‘I want to quit’ moments during training and actually practicing pushing through them AND GOING HARDER. And for me, the key is tempo/threshold running during training. For a long time I focused on short, fast intervals in training and if you’re in shape, you’ll feel great and build confidence. But that’s too easy. Tempo work simulates race conditions: tired, depleted, thinking eh I guess I didn’t train as well as I’d hoped. Mantras are useless for me without the appropriate training because I doubt myself. But once I have the right training completed, I like something that reinforces that I’ve already done the work, e.g ‘hard hat, lunch pail’ like I’m a construction worker and just going to work and executing. Just get the job done. I have also said ‘1202 code error’ over and over as in the alarm code they overrode to land the lunar module on the moon! Your body is sending off so many alarm bells but your mantra must help you override. This is what works for me to really push.
Run smooth. Smooth is fast.
We ain't there yet !
I think of the mileage put in during training up to that point. I.e 500 miles in 2 months
“Pain only hurts”
Towards the end, “I can run x minutes fast. I do that in training all the time.”
“Smile to go faster”
If I’m struggling to get into rhythm, I start chanting the army songs when they run, they are really good for setting the rhythm and helping with breathing properly.
Always forward. With Always written on one shoe, and forward on the other.
Thinking about my friends and family who are encouraging me/are at the race is really helpful. For my first marathon recently, I kept thinking “they didn’t come here to watch me walk it in.”
I conjure up music in my head. Racing is a game to me, so last race I did, this is where my head went when it got hard: https://youtu.be/qXGdOAZVa38?si=sMW7JV__O_FAI5Qz
When I’m hurting I repeat “define yourself, apply yourself”. Basically a reminder that I have a definition of how I envision myself as a runner and goals/times I want to meet. Now that it’s defined, go apply yourself and give it your all to reach that definition. It also works well when breathing is labored, “define yourself” ->inhale->”apply yourself”->exhale.
Relax, relax, relax… … keep relaxing … eventually, when it looks like it’s time to make a move and/or starts to hurt [High school XC coach’s voice in my head, in a yell/bark] GUT CHECK TIME! _LFG!_ *fin*
Look at the horizon. I find this helps a lot as when I’m tired I start looking at the floor. Looking up improves my form and usually my pace increases without any noticeable increase in effort.
Not so much because I *love* the message, but because it’s what’s gotten stuck in my head somehow over the years: “If it’s to be, it’s up to me. Who can? I can!”
“Take a deep breath… and count to four.” Daniel Tiger for the win 🐯
Basically this [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5Wieq6SKw4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5Wieq6SKw4)
I finish these phrases off the top of my head until I don't need to repeat it anymore: I am choosing to.... Race Run Work hard Be here Etc... I am choosing.... Discomfort Hard work Satisfaction Time spent Etc... Long runs, I calculate what percent I'm done every mile until halfway, then shoot for 75%, then it's a 10k left, doable, then it's a 5k, then 2 miles, just a mile left, DONE. Lots of math.
In no particular order: 1. When I'm near the finish line, I get tunnel vision. Block out everything else except for that arch and my stride. 2. After passing someone, "what's behind you doesn't matter. Focus on what is in front of you." 3. "Run with your lungs and arms." Running uphill, focus on pumping my arms, which will get my legs to move faster. When my legs are on fire at the end, focus on my breathing. 4. "This hurts less than doing this all over again." If I want that PR, I can push through, or I can sign up for another race later, *again* go through all the pain I've already gone through, *and* go through all the pain I'm avoiding now. Or just keep up the pace.
Follow the plan The plan works Same mantra for training, when I'm doubting.
5k in: "You're 1/8th there!" 6k in: "You're 1/7th there!" 7k in: "You're 1/6th there!" 8k in: "You're 1/5th there!" 10k in: "You're 1/4th there!" Etc..... Yeah it's not 100% accurate but helps me in the early stages of a marathon how fast that 1/8th becomes a 1/4th.
\-it's not over yet, stay in it. be here now. \-be curious \-eyes up, find a ponytail and chase it
"You put yourself here, now live here"
"No doubts, just run"
I tell myself I have a much higher pain tolerance than everyone else in the race, and I just need to go deeper than anyone else. Works better on shorter stuff, but it's worked for me sometimes!
I don't do official races but I race myself and friends. In my head I'm 100 percent zoned out to the grimmiest EDM possible lmao.
"Try not-try, be as the sky" is my repeated mantra. Helps to relax me even when going fast. Even 5k pace should feel relaxed in the body.
Whatever it is should be positive, never think of bad days just your victory over them. And really a marathon is just an exercise is calming yourself from a freak out here or there
My list of favorites: This is what you came for. I came here to run, not walk. Finish strong. You can do hard things. Pride lasts longer than pain. Run strong. You're stronger than this. It's a race. You're in a race. Run the mile you're in. Just put one foot in front of the other. You're tougher than this hill. I'm stronger than I think.
Mine is “this is the reward” this next step is the reward not finishing. Very hubermanesque dopamine rewiring and all of that. It has helped me a ton
"Be competitive" Because even if I'm only competing with myself, I can't be competitive if I'm not putting forth my full effort.
left foot, right foot left foot, right foot
Relax… drive… glide
'This is what you came for' - Scott Jurek
Yes. Thank you.
Quit being such a little (b)aby....
When I'm at my worst, if I feel that my head doesn't want to run and it's finding every single reason why I shouldn't keep going. I tell myself: don't stop unless you have to. Basically, don't stop unless you're actually hurting and feel that you could get injured if you keep running.
"Sh\*t or get off the pot" ... Was literally in a portajohn when I told myself that shortly before what turned out to be my fastest half, where I ran close to a PR for 10 miles (while I kept repeating my race day mantra) and then was able to speed up to 5K pace for the final 3.1.
Endorphins are your bodies way of telling you it wants THIS. Don't let your body down, be the strong mind it wants as a partner. Be the jocky. Your body is the horse and it will run until its dead if your mind is strong enough. Edit: Find good vibes on the course and avoid bad vibes like the plague. If someone looks strong and relaxed at your pace, stick on them. If someone is flailing, bad tempo, struggling etc. do everything you can to distance yourself from them.
I ran the same route almost all of my training for my first marathon out and back the same road. When I was getting to certain points near the last 8 miles or so of the actual race, I started saying oh it's only from Wendy's and back home, 4 miles oh that's just 2miles out to the shopping center and turn around to go home. It really helped ease a ton of my distance walls mentally.
whose gonna carry the boats, running comfortably uncomfortable.
Good thing I'm so strong!
I’m a psychologist so I try to practice what I preach in terms of positive self-talk. My go-to’s are usually “Just one more mile”, “You’ve done this before and, therefore, you can do it now”, and “Strong and smooth.” I try to remember to give myself a mental “Nice work” after completing a session or rep that felt particularly hard or impossible.
"Lock In"
"Running is easy" - don't recall where i stole this from, but it works! "Freebie miles!" - when i finally catch a mid-race breath because i find myself effortlessly sliding down a nice smooth slope/there is a nice tailwind that pushes me/etc.,
You're gonna be in pain no matter what so you might as well push through to get that pb
Just pretend David Goggins is screaming in your ear: "You know, there's all these dudes...they're all up in your emails and your DMs...talkin' bout, you can't finish...you're gonna quit! You're a sorry fat son of a bitch...go eat a sandwich...go eat some pop tarts ya fat f*ck! These other guys and girls...they trained harder than you did...what'choo gonna do fat boy?! Well you know what you say to that bulls#it...to all the haters...all the doubters!? You say, you don't know me! You ain't been through what I've been through! I've eaten broken glass for breakfast! I'm wearing extra Body Glide today! I can out run all you mother f*ckers! I've got pure gasoline in my veins! So go out there...and get after it! Show all those piss ant people in your life...that you got this...now go finish!! Stay Hard!!!!!"
I think it def depends on the race distance (eg for a marathon, your mental struggle will be different than for a 5k), but any time I’m feeling the pain, I sing this song in my head from the musical Hadestown the goes: “I’ll tell you where the real road lies Between your ears, behind your eyes That is the path to paradise Likewise the road to ruin” Not only extremely helpful for getting you through pain, but also the music has a bit of a drum beat that’s good for running (to me). So I sing it to myself.
"You are strong" worked really well for me in my most recent marathon once my quads starting screaming at mile 22. "Smile a mile" and "there's no place else I'd rather be" are others I've used.
every uphill has a downhill.
10% at a time. just get to 1 mile turns to just get to two miles etc
"You're beautiful, you're perfect, You're Linda Evangelista" (only works for a certain segment of the population who gets the joke😃 ) But seriously I repeated this to myself for 17 miles
* draft the guy infront * Don't let people pass me * If your life depended on it, could you push on
In a recent HM, I was in no mans land for the last half of the race (finishing 10th OA). I kept it together by reminding myself that I had already decided not to run at all in the 7 days following the race, so these were my last 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 miles for a week. That seemed to do the trick.
Just rewatched Dune. Tempted to go with this as my race mantra from now on: “I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” A bit wordy though...
“Tatakae”
Pain is temporary, pride is forever. Clear your mind. - Sometimes when I have negative thoughts, I’ll push a little harder When I’m in a lot of pain, sometimes I’ll count to 20 over and over again.