Recently I decided to stop posting the data from my runs on social media. It's not because I'm ashamed or embarrassed of my paces (even though my fast pace right now is slower than what many claim to be their easy pace) I did it because I think so many people, myself included, get too caught up in pace. Pace
I follow many faster runners on social media, sometimes I would see the paces they are hitting and get down on myself. My problem wasn't just me comparing myself to other runners, but also comparing myself to the runner that I was over 2 years ago when I had my marathon PR. I'm not other runners, and I'm not the same runner I was when I was hitting a sub 3:30 marathon. My goals right now are completely different from what I was doing when I was "faster". Trying to compare 2 entirely different things is a complete waste of my time.
Transitioning from a road marathoner to a trail ultra runner and letting go of speed is sometimes hard on the ego. I'm learning how to embrace the fact that pace will vary from a slow jog to crawling uphill with some actual running mixed in. I'm trying to be proud of runs with an overall pace that often resemble a fast walk. My focus is shifting to quality time on the trail and enjoying the journey often in the company of great people. I'm becoming much less concerned about running a "good" time and more about having a good time running. If you don't enjoy it, then what's the point?
Comparison is the thief of joy. Running is my joy and I refuse to let anything or anyone (including my stubborn self) steal that from me! I may be slow AF, but right now I don't give a F*#k!
