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For Wynonna, Run Rabbit Run 100 became about much more than reaching the finish line. After making it to mile 51 before the cutoff, she walked away from the race with a perspective that went far beyond the result. What began as another ultramarathon became an opportunity to reconsider what failure means, what achievement looks like, and whether finishing a race always has to mean crossing the physical finish line.
The Pressure to Finish
Wynonna grew up as a perfectionist. For much of her life, she believed that if she started something, she needed to finish it. Completing what she set out to do was closely connected to how she measured success, and not finishing could easily feel like failure.
That mindset made failure something she tried to avoid. She placed a lot of meaning on being successful and completing what she had started, and over time, those expectations became closely tied to her sense of accomplishment.
But life has a way of challenging the things we once believed were certain.
Learning to Let Go of Perfect
Becoming a mother humbled Wynonna in ways she never expected. There were many moments when things did not go according to plan, and she gradually began to understand that failure was not something she needed to fear or constantly work to avoid.
That lesson continued to develop through running ultras.
Ultrarunning rarely unfolds exactly as planned. Weather can change, the body can respond differently than expected, and circumstances outside your control can reshape the entire day. The longer the race, the more important it becomes to stay present and respond to what is actually happening rather than holding too tightly to what you originally imagined.
For Wynonna, learning to embrace that uncertainty became part of the reason she kept coming back to the trails.
A Race That Did Not Go to Plan
At Run Rabbit Run 100, those lessons became real.
The race brought cold, rain, hail, and plenty of uncertainty. Instead of allowing everything outside of her control to define the experience, Wynonna tried to stay present, listen, and let the race unfold around her.
There were difficult moments, but she continued to show up for herself through them. She focused on what she could do in each moment rather than becoming consumed by everything that was not going according to plan.
Eventually, her journey came to an end at mile 51 when she reached the cutoff.
On the results page, it would simply be recorded as a DNF.
But the result could not capture everything that happened before and during those 51 miles.
When a DNF Stopped Feeling Like Failure
In the past, a DNF might have been difficult for Wynonna to separate from the idea of failure. If finishing perfectly was the measure of accomplishment, then not reaching the finish line could feel like proof that she had fallen short.
This time, something was different.
She was able to recognize how much it had taken just to get to the starting line and how much she had experienced once the race began. She had stayed present through the cold, rain, hail, and uncertainty. She had continued until she was told she could not go any further. And when the journey ended, she did not walk away feeling that the entire experience had been a failure.
Instead, she found herself celebrating what the race had given her.
She celebrated the relationships she built, the support and love she received, and the lessons she learned along the way. She celebrated the fact that she showed up, gave everything she had, and allowed the experience to be enough even without the finish line she had originally imagined.
For someone who had spent much of her life believing that accomplishments only counted when they were completed perfectly, that shift in perspective was significant.
Redefining What It Means to Finish
The experience changed Wynonna's definition of what it means to finish a race.
Sometimes, finishing means reaching the goal you originally set for yourself and crossing the finish line. But sometimes, it means making it as far as you possibly can, staying present through the difficult miles, and being willing to accept where the journey ends.
That does not make the original goal meaningless. It simply means that the value of the experience is not limited to whether the final result matches the plan.
For Wynonna, the race became a reminder that her worth and the meaning of an experience are not determined by a time, a distance, or a race result. There are accomplishments that never appear on a results page: showing up when it would be easier not to, accepting what you cannot control, continuing through uncertainty, and being grateful for the people who helped you along the way.
Those are the things she will carry with her long after the race results fade.
The finish line can tell you where a race ended, but it cannot tell you everything that happened along the way. For Wynonna, Run Rabbit Run 100 offered a different way to look at the journey: sometimes, finishing is not about reaching the place you originally imagined. Sometimes, it is about being able to look back and say that you gave what you had, stayed present for the experience, and are proud of how you showed up.
