There are so many ways to count your successes as a runner, based on factors that don’t involve your speed compared to others. That is what is so great about running. The most basic of all is a Personal Best – running the best time that You can for a certain distance. But there are so many other versions of Winning when it comes to running. Success can even be something on the inside, something that no-one else can see…
1. Increasing the distance you have ever run, ever so slightly over time – or run the parts you usually walk. Look back to where you started and feel the success.
2. Making a race distance you never thought you could.
3. Having a run/race where you felt strong and powerful as a runner. Sometimes these are not particularly your fastest runs.
4. Knowing you've matured as a runner - Listening to your body – knowing how to warm up properly and stretch to target your problem areas, if you are tired or have a niggle take a day off = success.
5. Consistency as a runner – time without injury.
6. Tackling a trail run for the hills, or the treadmill for the mental stamina.
7. Working on your form until you know you are running better and more efficiently.
8. Challenging yourself and/or overcoming a fear – be that running with a group, run somewhere new, run in the rain, if you don’t usually run gadget free, run in short shorts, run in a crop top!
9. Achieving a negative split in a run or a race.
10. Completing a particular training session you have never completed before – or practicing something that is hard for you until it becomes easy (or easier!).
11. Running for a Cause and raising some money for a charity that means something to you.
12. Knowing that you pushed it, or knowing that you stopped listening to your doubts – only you can know this.
13. Being proud of, and even liking your race photos - warts and all.
14. Committing to, and following a plan for a set length of time.
15. Fitting it in when you thought you couldn’t, or all things work against you, prioritising yourself.
16. Coming Back - from whatever it was that knocked you down!
17. Being proud of you and your running journey without reference to others and their journey
Looking at this list I believe that every runner achieves success on an on-going basis, we love a challenge and challenges bring some failures, but many, many successes. That is what is so amazing about running – it turns you into a successful person who believes that they can achieve whatever they want to achieve.
What other ways do you define your success in running?