Emily Babay

Team Now deputy editor at The Philadelphia Inquirer. Runner. A collection of (mostly) photos and quotes. emily [at] emilybabay [dot] com.

[emilybabay]

Most of the time, the answer is not to think more. It’s to do the work you’ve already decided to do, and do that consistently over long periods of time (think months and years, not single sessions or big weeks). [...] The fewer daily choices an athlete has to make about their training, the more cognitive and emotional energy remains for training itself. [...] The question to ask is not: am I doing everything I could be doing? The question is: am I doing the things that actually matter, consistently, without letting everything else get in the way?

Overthinking Makes You Slower - by Joel Filliol

[emilybabay]

One major takeaway from this, and anything you may want to put your mind to, is the extreme benefit you get when you really enjoy the process. Right now I enjoy almost nothing as much as cramming new information into my head and testing myself on it.

How I went from not knowing who painted the Mona Lisa to being a top 10% Learned League player in One Year | Greg Shahade

[emilybabay]

That is, I think, the sad reality of history. We can’t dodge the circumstances of our times or any horrors to come. We have the beautiful burden of mere humanity, souls yanked out of non-existence and forced to confront the meat thresher of life. We’re just gonna have to go through it.

Going for a Run While the Rule of Law Collapses

[emilybabay]

So in my yearly tradition of picking a word of intention, I’m bringing it back to now. To the one place where I can exist without fear of tomorrows or regret of yesterdays. [...] It’s a fucking bitter pill to swallow, but the only way to end the cycle of self-flagellation is to…make different choices. To have self-forgiveness, AND to make better choices.

Now. - by Amelia Boone - Race Ipsa Loquitur

[emilybabay]

That’s the trap of overtraining. You get rewarded right before you get wrecked. The best weeks often come right before the worst ones. [...] Rest is not the opposite of progress...it’s part of it.

LOLZLetter 346 | The Reward Before the Wreck - by Hollie

[emilybabay]

One of the most impressive parts of his victory was how he was quickly able to shake that devastating miss off and hit three perfect shots in the playoff. McIlroy credited his caddie, Harry Diamond, for giving him a good reset after before they headed to the playoff. "After scoring Harry and I were walking to the golf cart to bring us back to the 18th tee and he said to me, ‘Well, pal, we would have taken this on Monday morning.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, absolutely we would have,’ McIlroy said. "That was an easy reset. He basically said to me, ‘Look, you would have given your right arm to be in a playoff at the start of the week.’ So that reframed it a little bit for me.”

Rory McIlroy’s Caddie Gave Him Perfect Message Before Masters Playoff

This was exactly what McIlroy needed to hear after a devastating missed putt on the 72nd hole.

[emilybabay]

It is not just a lack of time that can rob you of the consistency that gets results. It is the unpredictability of available time. [...] For people like executives, first responders, or those in the entertainment industry, schedules are both time-short and time-volatile. [...] What can be done? This is the most important question when facing temporal austerity. Not “what should have been done” or “what would be ideal,” but “what is possible right now?” This mindset invites flexibility, realism, and compassion—without sacrificing progress. Tempering expectations is not about lowering standards. It is about aligning expectations with current conditions. It is the difference between rigid perfectionism and resilient progress. [...] In a world of shifting schedules, rotating responsibilities, and unexpected interruptions, success does not belong to those with the most perfect plan; it belongs to those with the most adaptable system.

Rethinking Consistency - by Robert Wilson

[emilybabay]

Not the game you wanted to happen. Not the game that was happening. Not the game you thought would happen. But the game that is happening. Golf might be the ultimate test of emotional regulation. Over 4 days and 72 holes, nothing ever goes to plan. You prepare. You practice. You visualize. Then stuff happens. The real game isn’t the one you practiced, hoped for, or wished for—it’s the one in front of you. And the difference between those who collapse and those who rise? How they respond, especially when things don’t go their way.

Extraordinary Composure Under Extraordinary Pressure - The Growth Equation

[emilybabay]

As I said, to put our faith in tangible goals would seem to be, at best, unwise. So we do not strive to be firemen, we do not strive to be bankers, nor policemen, nor doctors. WE STRIVE TO BE OURSELVES. [...] As I see it then, the formula runs something like this: a man must choose a path which will let his ABILITIES function at maximum efficiency toward the gratification of his DESIRES. In doing this, he is fulfilling a need (giving himself identity by functioning in a set pattern toward a set goal), he avoids frustrating his potential (choosing a path which puts no limit on his self-development), and he avoids the terror of seeing his goal wilt or lose its charm as he draws closer to it (rather than bending himself to meet the demands of that which he seeks, he has bent his goal to conform to his own abilities and desires). In short, he has not dedicated his life to reaching a pre-defined goal, but he has rather chosen a way of life he KNOWS he will enjoy. The goal is absolutely secondary: it is the functioning toward the goal which is important. And it seems almost ridiculous to say that a man MUST function in a pattern of his own choosing; for to let another man define your own goals is to give up one of the most meaningful aspects of life— the definitive act of will which makes a man an individual. [...] So if you now number yourself among the disenchanted, then you have no choice but to accept things as they are, or to seriously seek something else. But beware of looking for goals: look for a way of life.

Hunter S. Thompson's Letter on Finding Purpose | Life-Changing Advice

[emilybabay]

pragmatism trumps precision, let alone perfection

Six Steps Toward Successful Strength Training – iRunFar

[emilybabay]

We think that courage comes from confidence, and we interpret our lack of confidence as the absence of courage. This is profoundly mistaken--a lack of confidence need never prevent us from finding courage. [...] Confidence is a calculation of the odds of success. Courage is a calculation that the cost of not trying is higher than the cost of failing.

Courage Isn't Confidence (Ed Batista)

[emilybabay]

I also know there’s some sort of time limit on how long I’ll be able to do any or all of this, and it makes every run precious — and helps foster an appreciation for my body, a care for it, that I’ve never had before.

The Quiet Glory of Aging into Athleticism

[emilybabay]

(via Learning To Rest - Semi-Rad.com)

[emilybabay]

To have goals is to have belief.

Chasing Goals - Ultra Running Magazine

[emilybabay]

After a few miles, I knew that it would either be my first time ever dropping out of a race, or my first time ever finishing last ... I’m glad that I chose 40 minutes of pain over a lifetime of regret.

At The Olympic Trials Marathon, DFL Means Pain Over Regret | Defector

[emilybabay]

People love stories of turning points, wake-up calls, sudden conversions, breakthroughs, the stuff about changes that happen in a flash. [...] We need stories in which getting where you’re going—individually or as a society—mostly happens step by step with maybe some backsliding, muddle, and stalling, not via one great leap. Maybe this is the task at which novels and biographies excel. [...] You want tomorrow to be different than today, and it may seem the same, or worse, but next year will be different than this one, because those tiny increments added up. The tree today looks a lot like the tree yesterday, and so does the baby. A lot of change is undramatic growth, transformation, or decay, or rather its timescale means the drama might not be perceptible to the impatient. And we are impatient creatures, impatient for the future to arrive and prone to forgetting the past in our urgency to have it all now, and sometimes too impatient to learn the stories of how what is best in our era was made by long, slow campaigns of change. [...] Sometimes seeing it is sudden, because change has been going on all along but you finally recognize it. [...] Describing the slowness of change is often confused with acceptance of the status quo. It’s really the opposite: an argument that the status quo must be changed, and it will take steadfast commitment to see the job through. It’s not accepting defeat; it’s accepting the terms of possible victory.

Rebecca Solnit: Slow Change Can Be Radical Change ‹ Literary Hub

[emilybabay]

That response always seems to perplex people, but it’s true: being laid up with injury is the easy part. It’s the rehab and the comeback that’s the hard part. [...] It’s the in-between, and I am currently in the thick of it. And despite how many times I’ve been through it, I forget how this part can absolutely suck. [...] I guess I’ll have to move through this time just like every time before: one decision at a time, one day at a time, putting blind faith that things will continue to get better. This is the hard part, but it doesn’t last. And while it’s the hard part, it’s also the hopeful part. The hope of healing, the hope of future adventures, the hope of possibilities.

This is the hard part. - by Amelia Boone