Why We Choose Hard Things

There is a moment before doing something genuinely difficult when excitement and fear start feeling suspiciously similar.

Lucy Schodell pays attention to that moment.

“If I see an opportunity that gives me butterflies,” Lucy explained during her conversation with Evan Birch and Jason Bahamundi on Enduring Minds, she tends to see that as evidence that it might be worth pursuing.

That philosophy has taken her through The Speed Project, 100-mile races and a 240-mile journey across the Gobi Desert. But the interesting part isn’t the distance.

It’s why she keeps choosing it.

Running Is A Team Sport

Endurance sports are often presented as individual pursuits. One athlete. One finish line. One result. Lucy sees something different.

During The Speed Project and other long endurance efforts, she has experienced moments when she felt completely confident—and others when that confidence disappeared.

That’s when her people mattered. The right people can become the voice you need when your own voice isn’t helping.

“I always say running is a team sport, but really, life is a team sport.”

That’s not motivational poster bullshit. It’s something Lucy has experienced over hundreds of miles.

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The Power Of Doing Hard Things

Lucy admits that telling her something can’t be done is a pretty effective way of convincing her to try. But defiance isn’t the entire motivation.

She wants adventure. She wants experiences. And she wants to see what happens on the other side of something that initially feels intimidating.

That has taught her something endurance athletes eventually discover: discomfort isn’t necessarily the problem.

Sometimes discomfort is where the interesting shit happens.

Building Something Bigger

That mindset extends beyond running.

Lucy created Watch Women’s Sports IRL after discovering how unnecessarily difficult it was to simply find women’s sporting events she could attend with her daughter.

She wanted her daughter growing up watching women compete. Instead of accepting the difficulty of finding those events, Lucy started solving the problem herself.

And maybe that’s the connection running provides. You encounter something difficult. You don’t know exactly how you’re going to solve it. Then you start moving.

Listen to the full conversation with Lucy Schodell on Enduring Minds, part of the Everyday Athlete Podcast Network.

Listen On Apple Podcasts

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