The Bowmans Talk Hardrock DNF

Much has been already said about this episode of Freetrail where Dylan’s brother Jason interviews Dylan, post race, post DNF, post heartbreak. Most of things that have been said I will echo here, but a couple things I want to highlight specifically:

The actual physical reality of Dbo’s body shutdown that almost mimicked his ‘heatstroke experience’ from his training run in New Mexico. The reason why I bring this up is because in our sport we don’t really talk about these traumatic experiences we put our body through and the longterm effects they might have on our system. We heal then we begin our training , and we think we’re back to normal. But maybe there’s more lingering in our system than we might think. I related to this as I am looking at my own history of experiences at ultra races and how my body’s reaction has changed over time. This could also be very much a mental thing, that our sensors are heightened and we want to avoid getting ourselves into a similar situation therefore we call it sooner than we might’ve in the past. We often talk about wanting to live on the edge to find our limit and hope to expand it. But if you really hit a wall and it hurt then maybe you tell yourself that next time you won’t go that deep.

The second point of their conversation I very much relate to is the aspect of responsibility. Dylan bemoans that he’s not the same athlete anymore than he used to be, but he only considers the physical aspect of the athlete, the training, the fitness. Given the fact that Dylan has not so many other pieces on his plate that are priorities for him and he’s responsible for how could he be the same athlete as when he was younger and had to carry less? Again, not here to pass judgement, but as I get older I find myself asking these questions when I’m out on a long dark night. I am not doing this just for myself, and the outcome is tight to lots of other realities. I weigh these things, and I do make decisions on various priorities. I know that this part of the reason of why I am a bad athlete – the other reason is that I am so damn slow, haha. But, I don’t have that single-minded killer instinct. But I relate to that struggle of weighing priorities in the moment and not putting myself first, even when I maybe should, and even when people maybe hope I would, I fold, call it quits because I think this is better considering the other priorities.

I think anyone who’s a trail runner and who loves to listen to stories and interviews that are inspiring and which share teachable moments should put this episode into their queue. It is all that and more.