The Winding Road of Running

Running isn’t linear. That’s a simple, but hard truth to accept about running. It’s also part of what makes running both exciting and frustrating. Throughout the course of a person’s running life, there are leaps forward and heartbreaking setbacks. You can have great training cycles (feels like a leap forward) that end in a disappointing race result (feels like a setback), and you can have challenging training cycles (feels like a setback) that end in a surprising race result (feels like a leap forward). There will also be a lot of in-between moments of not knowing much beyond putting in the work to be your best and strongest self.

Running is a dance with yourself, your ego, and your physical capacity. Are you ready to dance?

The roads with running are also endless with no final destination that marks you as having achieved the Final, Most Complete Version of being a runner. Even the holy grail goal of crossing a finish line isn’t a final destination on these running roads. Instead, finish lines are transformational moments that will redefine your relationship with running: Do you need to recover from the distance and reevaluate your running goals? Or, have the possibilities of what you can do with the distance been unlocked?

Running is a process of arriving, over and over again. Once you have arrived in one version of Runner, the gaze gets set on the next version. The gauge for how you define yourself as a runner keeps on shifting with every goal and challenge met. We’ve all either been there or can think of someone going for that sub-30-minute 5K, sub-2-hour half marathon, sub-4-hour full marathon, etc…We are all experiencing or will experience what it means to be a runner at different stages and ages.

Truly, the only thing linear about running is on the micro level and how you put one foot in front of the other. The only thing final about running is in the awareness that each step taken is a step that will never be taken again because there is no going back in time.

It sounds almost gloomy and like “What’s the point?” right?

Well, friends, this is all part of the journey of being a runner and there’s actually something really exciting that happens along the way. It’s called Starting Over.

Let me be clear though, Starting Over is different from Starting From Scratch. Starting Over is about going back to the beginning, but with all your knowledge and experience to guide you forward. On the other hand, Starting From Scratch implies a ground zero start where nothing at all has been done, learned, or experienced.

The gift of starting over, if you let it be one, is that there are new potentials available to you because who you are now is so different than who you were before. Starting over can be an exciting opportunity to rediscover yourself as the runner and athlete you are now. Remember when everything felt new and curiosity is what kept you showing up? Staring over is how you tap into that feeling. As a major perk, starting over is how we stay “young” in this sport because it humbles you in a way that reminds you of several truths you’ve probably forgotten or take for granted: to be able to run is something to be grateful for and to have a body that can run is something to marvel at.

I won’t lie to you, the hard part of starting over is letting go of comparisons to who you once were so that you can create the possibility for who you will become. But, starting over is where you meet yourself truly with acceptance and compassion. Are you willing to let go to let be? Are you willing to accept that it’s ok to start over because starting over doesn’t mean starting from scratch? What future version of you is eagerly waiting for you on the other side of starting over?

If you are starting over, celebrate all that you have learned up until this point. Starting over doesn’t mean that you have failed; it means that you are healthy and well enough to have been granted the incredible opportunity to be wide-eyed once again, but with more experience to ground you.

If you are in a starting over phase of your running journey, I’d love to hear about your experience.

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