What does ready mean?

There's a 100 mile race this weekend. I may or may not be partaking in such an event. I may also have clients enjoying such joys with me. 

There's a lot of people that I know in the community doing the event, and with an event like this, it will generally bring up a lot of emotions for people. Anxiety, fear, excitement, joy. Whatever it may be, people generally know where they sit on the scale.

When I asked my clients in our group chat "how are you feeling for the weekend? Are you feeling ready?" The last response I was expecting was "what does ready mean?". I've actually never been asked this before, and I really had to think about the answer.

How can you feel ready for such a thing? Especially if it's your first one. It's the unknown, the day, the weather, how you feel will be different every time. So what does ready mean? Does it mean having the perfect training block? Because we know how unlikely that is. Is it having a crew plan and pacing times? Because again, when does it ever go to plan really?

What being ready means is (to me) being prepared to have an experience. Not labelling it good or bad, having the capabilities available to us to be able to embrace the full experience. This might come through training, it may come through both the sessions that went right and the sessions where you learnt. It might also come through mindset work. Learning to sit with uncomfortable emotions, or relaxation techniques. It may even come from a gentle reminder from a loved one that no matter what happens you are still their hero.

Whatever goal you are chasing or whatever you are training for, I want this to be a reminder that being ready isn't real. We'll never be ready. But you can put yourself in the best position to embrace the experience. Make sure you've done the training and preparation required to allow this to happen. Not having to worry if I worked hard enough, if I have prepared enough. Not going in worried everything is going to fall apart, because it most likely will. But going in knowing that you have done enough to allow yourself to go in open minded and embrace whatever that adventure may bring you. Reminding yourself that this is something we get to do, for ourselves, to learn, to grow, and ultimately get to be proud for even trying!

Want to feel more prepared than ever? Join the AA athletes and take the guesswork out.