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Comment by zimpenfish | Hacker News Reader

As a personal anecdote, I cut short a 24h race this summer at 17h because, even though it was ~20degC, I spent an entire lap shivering even though I had t-shirt + thick hoody + hat. That was a pretty big warning that I'd pushed too far and further would have laid me out.

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There's no shame in stopping. Sounds like you were hypothermic, which is a common reason for DNFs.

From my experience, I would say that you wouldn't have been able to continue even if you needed to.

Also, always beware of the spectrum. Some people would say running for 17 hours is impossible. Others would say they shivered uncontrollably at 17 hours and roughed out 3 more hours before dropping. Others still would hit 24 hours and wish they could keep going.

> There's no shame in stopping.

Oh, I know. I was there primarily to support a 100-miler anyway which made the decision a lot easier.

> I would say that you wouldn't have been able to continue even if you needed to.

Yeah, I spent the next couple of hours just slumped under a table trying to get warm and eat food.

That's awesome. I hope it's clear that I'm not hating. I'm sure you'll always have great memories of that day, and hopefully of similar days in the future. Life's good out there.

Excellent motivational speech -- skip to the 6 minute mark: https://youtu.be/b3q0dvwEmsQ

I think you linked to the wrong video; it's only 53 seconds long.

Oops -- this one: https://youtu.be/3cZlvRnBnWs

I've raced bikes since I was a kid. I meet a ton of the "finish at all costs" people in endurance racing, but in anything from a criterium, to a 24h mtb race, the minute I'm not either A. doing well enough to place well or B. having fun, I pull out of the race.

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