Sometimes I think about the runner I’d be today if I accepted these HARD truths the day I started training for my first half marathon back in 2011. But, that’s life. So let's learn together.
Some of these took me way too long to fully accept and it hurt my running for years. Injuries that could have been avoided, running plateaus that lasted way too long, miserable long runs and anxiety over races. You name it, I’ve been there & felt it.
5 Painful (but good) truths I’ve learned about running:
1. Nobody cares about your pace and that’s a good thing. Normalize telling people your paces without “slow” or “fast” before them. Normalize easy paces and hard runs that you finished.
2. Being skinny doesn’t automatically make someone a good runner. So stop comparing runners body’s to your own.
3. Rest and recovery is more important than you think. So many told me this but I just didn’t believe it. Now that I’ve been injuries many times, ran over by my car, and pregnant three times I know exactly what they’re talking about. Your body deserves to rest and recover.
4. Bad runs are part of the process. They suck but they have to happen. Just don’t get stuck on them. Take time to learn from there and then that’s where your growth happens.
5. The distance you run doesn’t qualify you as a runner. A marathoner is no more than a runner than one who runs 5ks. You don’t need to waste your time comparing your mileage to someone else. It doesn’t matter, just run what makes you happy.
Moral of the story: Do what makes you be and feel the best runner you can be and enjoy all the miles. We need to stop overthinking the simple act of running sometimes. It's just like the journey of life - bad days are bound to happen, low motivation will happen, and it's a wild ride.
Happy running,