Mindset for the Long Run

Close your eyes for a moment. 

Think back to the day you signed up for this race — or the moment you committed to whatever  big goal you’re chasing right now. What did that feel like? Were you nervous? Excited? Did a  little voice in the back of your head whisper, can I actually do this? Were you inspired by  someone who had done it before you? 

Now picture yourself at the start line. Maybe you feel those familiar pre-race jitters. You’re  surrounded by tens, hundreds, thousands of people who share your exact same goal — to cross  that finish line at Canal Park and celebrate every hard mile it took just to get here. 

The gun goes off. Your heart races. You start moving. And in that moment, something shifts. 

You made a choice to be here. And you will keep making that choice — mile after mile — until  it’s done. 

The Body Keeps Score. So Does the Mind. 

As an acupuncturist for endurance athletes, I spend my days working with the relationship  between the body and the mind. In Chinese medicine, we don’t separate them — they are one  system, constantly in conversation. What you think, your body feels. What your body feels, your  mind interprets. The two are inseparable. 

Endurance running makes this truth impossible to ignore. 

Around mile 18 of a marathon, your legs aren’t the only thing that gets tired. Your mind does too.  And the athletes who cross the finish line aren’t always the ones with the strongest legs — they’re  the ones who have trained their minds just as hard as their bodies. 

That’s what I want to talk about today: mindset for the long run. Not just race day, but the  entire journey that brought you here — including the training you’re doing right now. 

You Have to Choose It, Every Single Mile 

Here’s something I want you to sit with: you make a choice every mile to keep going.

If you’re in the thick of training right now — logging long runs in the cold, fighting early alarms,  showing up on tired legs — you already know this feeling. There are days when the last thing  you want to do is lace up. Days when the miles feel harder than they should, when motivation is  nowhere to be found. And yet, you go anyway. 

That’s not nothing. That is the training. 

The mental reps you’re putting in right now — the choosing, the pushing through, the refusing to  quit — are just as important as the miles on your watch. Every time you show up when it’s hard,  you’re teaching your mind that it’s capable of more than it thinks. You’re building something that  no training plan can prescribe. 

The race is just an extension of what you’re already doing. It will get hard. I want you to expect  that — not fear it. When it does, I want you to remember the feeling you had the moment you  signed up. Bottle that feeling up. That belief you had in yourself in that moment? It’s still true. It  hasn’t expired. Carry it with you. 

The Race Is Won in Training 

Race day gets all the glory. But the real work — the mental work — happens in the months  before. 

Your long runs are not just fitness tests. They are rehearsals. Use them intentionally. Practice  your mantras when things get uncomfortable. Try dedicating a hard mile to someone you love.  Notice what your mind does when your body wants to stop, and practice responding differently.  By the time you reach the start line in Two Harbors, none of this will be new. It will be  automatic. 

This is also the time to be intentional about what you’re surrounding yourself with. The podcasts  you’re listening to on your long runs, the books on your nightstand, the people you’re training  alongside — all of it shapes your mental state heading into race day. Energy is contagious. Doubt  is contagious. But so is belief. Choose accordingly. 

Nike Running’s Coach Bennett says it simply: “You have to love what you do to be great at it.” Running wants you to be happy. What do you want from it? 

What Are You Feeding Your Mind? 

We talk a lot about race-week nutrition — what you’re eating, when you’re hydrating, how you’re  fueling. But I want to ask you: what are you feeding your mind?

Be as intentional about your mental diet as your physical one. This matters during training just as  much as it does in the final days before the race. Fill your mind with things that remind you what  you’re capable of. And on the days when you can’t find it in yourself — borrow belief from  someone else until your own comes back. 

The Power of Your Words 

In my practice, I talk to patients about the energetic weight of language. Words carry vibrations  — and your body responds to them whether you’re speaking out loud or just thinking them. 

Try this: say the word weak out loud. Or hurt. Notice what happens in your body. There’s a  subtle contraction, isn’t there? A bracing. 

Now try: strong. capable. I was made for this. 

Feel the difference? 

This is why mantras matter. Not as empty cheerleading, but as deliberate reprogramming. I keep  a running notes page on my phone — just phrases and words that anchor me when things get  hard. My mom keeps a journal. Whatever works for you — write a few down now, before race  day. Practice them on your training runs so they’re already grooved in when you need them  most. Know what you’re going to say to yourself at mile 20 before you get there. 

Ask yourself right now: how do I want to feel during this race? Get specific. Visualize it. And  when things get hard, return to that. 

When It Gets Hard (And It Will) 

Whether you’re on a long training run in April or somewhere in the middle miles on race day, the  hard moments will come. Here are a few things that have helped me and the athletes I work with: 

• Dedicate a mile to someone else. Pick someone you love, someone who is struggling,  someone who would give anything to be doing what you’re doing right now. Run that  mile for them. You’ll be surprised what your body can do when it’s not running for itself. 
• Look around you. In training, that might mean remembering the community of runners  out there doing the same hard work you are. On race day, you’ll be surrounded by  thousands of them. Let that be fuel. 
• Fall in love with the pain. I know that sounds extreme — but there is something  profound about choosing discomfort. It means you are growing. It means you are alive  and doing something extraordinary that most people will never do. (And as always, know 

the difference between discomfort that builds you and signals your body actually needs  you to stop — extreme heat, cold, or injury are a different conversation.) • Remember your why. Not a vague “I want to get fit” why. Your real why. The one that  made your eyes sting a little when you thought about it. 

This Race Is Not Your Finish Line 

As you cross that finish line — flooded with relief, joy, pride — I want you to hold that feeling.  Memorize it. Because here is the truth I want to leave you with: 

This race is not your end goal. It is a stepping stone into the rest of your life. 

The finish line is the cherry on top of the journey that got you here. The real transformation  already happened — in the early mornings, the long runs, the days you chose to show up when  you didn’t want to. 

You are different because of this process. Not just as a runner. As a person. 

So go run your race. Choose it, mile after mile. And when you cross that finish line, know that  you didn’t just complete a marathon. 

You proved something to yourself that no one can ever take away. 

And always remember that we GET to do this �� 

Written by Kailee Carlson, DCM, LAc, RN of Dr. Kailee Acupuncture – Holistic Health &  Integrative Medicine based in Minneapolis, MN and cohost of the We Get 2 Do This podcast, a  health and mindset podcast for building resilience in your body, mind, and life. 

Dr. Kailee supports endurance athletes with acupuncture, dry needling, cupping, herbal and  nutrition guidance, and recovery coaching.