Sure, it makes sense to feel bummed if you had to drop out or fell short of your time goal, but even completing your dream race can bring a sense of pre-grieving: “You also recognize that this may never happen again,” Gersten says. So whether you’ve just wrapped a big fall race, or have one coming up on your schedule, here’s what you can expect afterward—and some ways to cope, from therapists who are also endurance runners themselves. “Give yourself that period to feel how you’re gonna feel—to either be excited and to have a really fun day, or to just sit on the couch and feel your feelings,” Gersten says.