Getting the trophy feels great for about a week. Becoming the kind of person who earned it lasts.

Prizes are events, and events decay fast. The week afterwards is genuinely good, then it becomes an object on a shelf, while whatever you had to become in order to get it stays with you: the patience, the early starts, the ability to continue after it stopped being fun. One is a souvenir and the other is equipment.

While you are chasing something, keep half an eye on who the chase is turning you into. Ask whether you would want those habits even if the result never arrived. If yes, you cannot really lose the whole thing.