Francesco’s 100 Mile Run

Full of doubt, and surrounded by doubters Francesco Puppi runs Western States and finishes second in his Western States debut and 100 mile race debut. His write up is a fun read:

My experience at the 2026 Western States 100 served as a reminder that things don’t need to be perfect, they just need to be good enough. As athletes, we spend way too much time questioning the quality of our training, wondering whether what we’re doing is actually enough to meet the expectations we have for our performances. It’s hard to define exactly what “good enough” means, because it inevitably changes depending on the person and the situation.
…
We are our best data points, but at the same time we use our best days as the reference for how we expect to perform all the time, under every circumstance. Which is just the wrong expectation.

Some good wisdom right there, not just for training and racing but for life in general.