
FROM ADRENALINE RACER TO HIPPIE RUNNER
Contributed by Rob Donkersloot, AURA President
A few years ago I reckon my ultra running was about the adrenaline rush. About a week before race day it would start – the scarier the race, the bigger the rush. I would feed it like a smack addict, with harder races, longer distances. If I wasn’t jumping out of my skin at the start line, I would be worried there was something wrong. Everything was about the goal, the pace plan. Achievement or failure. During the race itself my mind would focus on what lay ahead, the pain that was waiting for me. Just to top up the adrenaline.
Then in 2015 after falling apart at Great North Walk, I fired my then coach, a hard core ‘man’s man’ legend in US trail running circles, and replaced him with a self-proclaimed hippie, a legend in Australian ultra track running circles.
I was introduced to meditation, and how to think differently about my running, both before and during events. In December that year, I stood on the beach for the start of Kosci, and rather than excitement and adrenaline, my mind was at peace and totally calm.
Try being a hippie runner, and concentrate on the journey rather than the achievement. You may find you like it.







