Running & Social Media
Once upon a time, there was a young runner. This young runner started to run six months after having her second daughter. She started to run because it was something easy she could do with both of her kids. This runner trained for her first 5K, first half marathon, first full marathon, and finally first (and only) ultramarathon. This runner started to share parts of her running journey on a little known social media app at the time called Instagram. The more involved she got with running and the online running community, the more her eyes were opened to the possibilities that existed within the running world. In these early years of this runner’s social media life as a runner, her goals went from running “Because I can” to “What is everyone else doing and can I do it?”
This story is about me. I had no clue what I was doing when I started running, but I was driven by my curiosity for what I could do and my newfound love for the sport of running. Social media helped me grow as a runner and it introduced me to runners from all over the world with all different kinds of backgrounds. Something happened along the way that led to me losing that connection to my WHY for running. I started working towards goals that I thought I had to work toward because other people were working on them (for me that was a BQ). This contributed to some confusing times in my running journey that had me questioning how much of a runner I was if I wasn’t going after the goals others around me were going after and, in many cases, achieving.
Thankfully, I had a run coach who challenged me when I told her what my goals were and who asked me to reflect on whether the goal I had was something I desired because it made me happy or if the goal was something that I wanted because I didn’t want to be left behind (Jessica, if you read this, you are the best of the best). I also had an incredible support person in my husband who kindly reminded me that I didn’t like to do certain distances and that I didn’t like to train for certain distances. My husband made it hard to hide from my true self when he would question why I was doing what I was doing when I didn’t appear to enjoy it.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with seeing what others are doing and asking yourself if you can do that as well, but what is wrong is when you see what others are doing and it takes away from what you truly want to do. Social media can be a place of deep learning and expansion of perceived limits but it can also be a place that distracts and detracts.
In this week’s post I’m sharing three of my top tips for mindfully engaging with social media and the running community we find on there. (Note: this post focuses on being the consumer of social media)
1. It all starts with self-inquiry
Look back to when you first started running, do you remember what got you into the sport in the first place? Now, think of your current goal: can you track the evolution of your current goal? I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a difference between your goals when you started running and your current goals. Next ask yourself if your current goal a step up from a previous goal or if it is a leap from a previous goal. For example, is the goal “I want to run a faster marathon than my last marathon” or is it “I just ran a 5K and now I want to run a marathon.” Some other questions to reflect on include:
If no one else knew about the goal would you still want to try to achieve the goal?
Did you know about the goal before seeing it social media?
Would you work to achieve this goal by any means necessary? For example, if running the Boston Marathon is your goal, would you run it as a charity runner or does it have to be by getting a qualifying time?
The key here is figuring out if your WHY as a runner aligns with your WHAT as a runner.
2. Awareness of consumption
The next tip is about paying attention to what you’re consuming on social media. We can approach this like a spectrum with inspire/motivate on one end and detract/distract on the other end. When an account inspires you, the account will make you want to feel stronger/push harder on your runs and/or empower you to believe in yourself. When an account motivates, the account will excite you about running and/or make you want to get out and run. If an account brings up feelings of comparison that make you feel like less of a runner, then the account detracts from you as a runner. If an account leaves you questioning whether you are “behind” in your running journey, then the account distracts you from your process as a runner. The best questions to ask are:
Does this account teach me something I didn’t know about running?
Does this account leave me feeling better about myself as a runner?
Does this account help me become the best version of myself as a runner?
If comparisons come up, explore what your expectations are around running and the progress one makes on their running journey. This can also be an opportunity to remind yourself of your uniqueness as a runner. Remember, a social media comparison is often based on superficial information (you only know what is posted/shared) and doesn’t take into consideration all the specific factors and nuances of a person’s individual life.
3. Support system
Running takes up a lot of time, effort, and energy. A support system that allows you to pursue your running goals is extremely important, but your support system should not consist of only runners. Your support system should include people who are runners and people who are not runners. Further, there is great benefit from being around runners who are working on different goals and are at different stages in their running journey and training cycles. Why? Different perspectives. When you are surrounded by runners who are chasing different goals, you get a front row seat to the process of chasing those goals and an opportunity to ask yourself whether you are desiring or willing to put in that level of work to achieve the goal. When you are surrounded by runners at different stages and phases, you can tune into the subtle emotional experience of being a runner in recovery, being a runner leading up to a goal race, being a runner who is starting to run again, etc…
A support system with people who are not runners helps bring an outside perspective. You need people who aren’t runners to offer up reality checks from time to time. An outside perspective will help you remember how incredible what you’re currently doing already is. An outside perspective will love you for who you are and not care about your goals beyond supporting your attempt to achieve them. In other words, an outside perspective will ground you when thoughts of “keeping up” or “not being enough of a runner” start to creep in.
A good support system will provide you with different perspectives on what it means to be a runner while also providing you with an outside perspective that reminds you that you are more than a runner.
Social media is what it is and our experience with it depends on what we allow that experience to be. Will social media be a place that invites you to be your best runner self or will it be a place where the seeds for self-doubt grow?
I’d love to hear about your experiences with the intersection of running and social media in the comments below.
If you are interested in exploring this topic more, there is a free virtual community discussion happening on Saturday. May 21st at 10am PT - 12pm CT - 1pm ET. Registration details can be found here.
