Pace Yourself for the Long Run

(calm bright music) Headspace Studio. Welcome to Radio Headspace, I'm Dora. I've talked about this before, but it's about the time I ran a relay ultramarathon from Los Angeles to Las Vegas over 50 hours, nearly 350 miles. You run in the dark, you cheer from the side of the road, you nap in vans, and you rely on your team for everything. Before the race, I caught myself thinking, "I don't wanna be the weakest link," and in the same breath, "I don't wanna make anyone else feel like they are." It was a quiet kind of pressure, wanting to do my best without making anyone else feel like they weren't enough. And we hear it all the time, "Run your own race." But some of the most meaningful growth happens when we stop thinking like solo athletes and start thinking like teammates. Even mindfulness works this way. When I meditate, I'm not just calming my mind, I'm also changing how I move through the world. My breath becomes steadier, my reactions slower, my compassion stronger, and all of that affects the people around me. You can train in compassion like an athlete trains in strength. And when you do, your whole community benefits. During that ultramarathon, there was a moment I'll never forget. It was about 3:00 AM and one of our teammates had just finished a brutal uphill leg. You could see it on her face. She was exhausted, discouraged, and feeling like she didn't do enough. Without even thinking, one of our other runners walked over, handed her a snack, wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and said, "You got us through that. We're still in this because of you." It wasn't just kind. It was true. She didn't run the fastest leg, but she showed up when it was the hardest and that mattered. That moment changed something in me. I realized this race wasn't about individual pace or performance. It was about how we held each other, how we passed the baton with presence, how we reminded one another again and again, "You're not in this alone." That ultramarathon taught me something I didn't expect: how deeply we're shaped by the people we're surrounded by, and how much stronger we become when we stopped pretending we're doing this alone. There was a moment on my second leg of the race. It was 2:00 AM, freezing cold, I was exhausted and slightly nauseous. But as I ran, I could see the blinking red light of my teammate up ahead and heard the cheers from my team behind me. And suddenly, it wasn't just about me and my pace, it was about the thread that connected all of us. Every person on that team had a moment where they felt weak and every person had a moment where they felt strong, but no one stayed in either place. We moved through them together, and that's what mindfulness can look like too. Sometimes you're the one breathing...