If you're going through hell, keep going.

“If you’re going through hell, keep going.” - Sir Winston Churchill

One thing that sets the sport of ultra running apart from most other sports is how hard each participant pushes their physical limits beyond what most people would consider safe ...or sane. But, after my experience at Zane Grey 50 where I made the call to quit and take the DNF, I find myself asking the questions: When is it really over? How do you know when you need to throw in the towel?

It isn't something that anyone likes to talk about, and a lot of people have two answers. I'll call them the "nice" answers and the "hardcore" answers.

The feel good answers
There are variations of the feel good answer, but they generally run along the lines of:

• "Listen to your body and you'll know when you've had enough."
• "There's no point in pushing past your limit. Take the DNF and live to race another day."
• There are more, but my brain decided to DNF while making this list.

The Hardcore answers

We have all heard these answers. They are all over the place. We toss them around like nothing during training runs and during races to help motivate and inspire, but they often involve very little common sense.

• "I'll never quit!"
• "Relentless forward progress, baby!"
• "Puke and then push on."
• "It's a wall, get over it."
• "Your body is lying to you! Keep your feet moving!"
• "No pain, no gain!"
• "If you're not bleeding from the head or dragging a broken limb, you have no excuses!" (ok, I just made this up)
• ...and many more.

The problem

For a relative newbie like me, the answer seems to fall somewhere between these two extremes. There's certainly wisdom in listening to your body, but there are valid cases where the feedback from the body is telling you to stop when you are capable of pushing on. There's also a point at which your body is telling you to stop because you could die if you continue (this is probably more rare than most people think).

So, what is your answer? When is it ok to throw in the towel and take the DNF?

Oh, and I'm dying to hear your feel good and hardcore answers, and your battle stories. What have you pushed through? When did you take the DNF and why? Leave them in the comments below.