Charlotte Joko Beck in Everyday Zen (chapter "Practicing This Very Moment") suggests:

I once said something in the zendo that upset a lot of people: I said, "To do this practice, we have to give up hope." Not many were happy about that. But what did I mean? I mean that we have to give up this idea in our heads that somehow, if we could only figure it out, there's some way to have this perfect life that is just right for us. Life is the way it is. And only when we begin to give up those maneuvers does life begin to be more satisfactory.

When I say to give up hope, I don't mean to give up effort. ...

And maybe that applies to ultrarunning, especially distances beyond one's capabilities, and to work, and health, and relationships, and everything else in life. Don't have goals or expectations or plans. Just be open to possibilities, accept whatever happens, and be happy in the moment.

And from the film Fight Club, "And then, something happened. I let go. Lost in oblivion. Dark and silent and complete. I found freedom. Losing all hope was freedom."

(cf. Lose Track (2002-11-11), All Good (2007-01-13), Expectations vs. Possibilities (2013-08-13), Let Go (2013-10-18), Processes not Goals (2014-02-20), ...) - ^z - 2014-09-01