Courage When It Matters Most

The night before the Chicago Marathon, I cried.

Not from excitement, but from exhaustion.

I was in a different city, on my own.

Outside, the energy was building. Music, noise, people preparing for race day.

There was a sense of anticipation everywhere.

Inside, I felt the opposite. Flat. Homesick. Unsettled.

It was 2am before I finally fell asleep. And then, just a few hours later, my alarm went off. 5am.

My eyes stung. My body felt heavy. My mind wasn’t where I wanted it to be.

This wasn’t how I had imagined I would feel on the morning of a marathon. I remember questioning it, just for a moment.

How am I going to do this today?

But then something shifted.

Not dramatically. Just enough.

I got up, got dressed and stepped outside.

And as I walked toward the start line, something began to change.

Not in my body at first, but in my focus.

There were runners everywhere. Quiet. Focused. Moving with purpose.

And as I walked alongside them, I felt myself come back into it. Back into what I knew. Not how I felt at that moment, but what I had done to get there.

The early mornings. The long run. The weeks of showing up when it wasn’t convenient.

That’s when it landed. I’ve done the work.

This is something I often say to others now: the marathon itself isn’t where the work happens. It’s where you celebrate it.

By the time you reach the start line, you’re already most of the way there.

You’ve trained. You’ve prepared. You’ve stayed with it. What’s left isn’t perfection.

It’s courage.

The courage to begin, even when you don’t feel how you expected.

The courage to trust what you’ve built.

The courage to take the first step… and then keep going.

Because there will be moments where things don’t line up.

Where you feel tired, off, uncertain. Not just on race day, but in training and in life.

And it’s easy to think something has gone wrong. That you should feel better. Stronger. More ready.

But often, nothing has gone wrong. You’re just being asked to meet the moment as it is.

That morning in Chicago, I didn’t suddenly feel amazing.

I didn’t feel perfectly prepared. But I stood on that start line knowing something deeper. I was ready enough. And that was enough to begin.

Courage isn’t about eliminating doubt. It’s not about waiting until everything feels right.

It’s about moving forward with what you have, as you are. Because the marathon doesn’t require a perfect version of you. It requires a willing one.

And once you start, something else takes over.

Not motivation. Not emotion. Momentum.

One step. Then another. Then another.

And before you realise it, you’re in it.

Doing exactly what you trained yourself to do.

That’s what carries you. Not how you felt at the start, but the courage to begin anyway.

Marathon Mindset in Action: Courage & Trust

There will always be moments where things don’t line up.

Where you don’t feel ready. Where doubt is louder than belief.

Courage is not removing those moments.

It’s moving with them. And trust is what grows when you realise you can.

Reflection:

Where do you need to choose courage right now?

What would trusting yourself look like in your next run?

This is a chapter from my Ebook Marathon Mindset, you can obtain the full copy of my Ebook here

Natalie Moore is a coach, facilitator and mindset specialist who helps people reconnect with who they are and take meaningful action toward what matters. With over 20 years’ experience across business, leadership and wellbeing, her work sits at the intersection of performance, possibility and lived experience. She is known for helping individuals and teams move from overthinking and uncertainty into clarity, confidence and action. A marathon runner and ultra finisher, Natalie brings a deeply personal understanding of what it means to commit to something challenging and see it through. Her work extends beyond running, using the principles of mindset, self-leadership and aligned action to support people navigating growth, change and transition.