How to deal with your first ‘DNF’ in trail running, and the liberation it brings, as Fredelyn Alberto puts health over finish
- The Hong Kong-based runner was always afraid a Did Not Finish would mean she let her supporters down, but really it is about putting her body first
It’s a difficult and important lesson, and arguably a rite of passage for almost every runner: the first Did Not Finish (DNF) when a competitor fails to complete a race.
As runners, we depend on our bodies to power us through our sport – our legs, our lungs, our gut. The simplicity of it is beautiful, because we’re not dependent on an external object like a tennis racquet or a bicycle. The simplicity also means our performance in the sport often becomes, for better or worse, tied to our sense of self-worth. Why couldn’t I run just that much further, or just that much faster – is it because I’m just not good enough?
Doubts like these are often reasons for not wanting to drop out of a race. A DNF somehow seems to connote failure and weakness, yet embracing the DNF and learning when to call it a day is also a powerful experience.
That’s what Hong Kong-based Filipino runner Fredelyn Alberto, one of the city’s best trail runners, learned two weekends ago at the 100km Ijen Trail Running race in East Java, Indonesia, which is part of the Asia Trail Master series.
Alberto had started the race strongly, feeling good and on pace. Warning signs crept in after she passed a water station at the 20km mark. She started to ascend, and after another 5km, started to hike. That’s when the pain kicked in. She tried to take 10 more steps. “ I couldn’t even lift [my foot],” she said.
Alberto had already been dealing with niggles before the race. While on holiday, she had been hiking and walking about 20km a day, and afterwards noticed swelling in her right ankle. A few sessions of needling at the physiotherapist’s seemed to tamp things down, but she was mentally prepared for the right foot to flare up.