This is going to sound strange, maybe, but I sort of like that I’m not a very good or very fast runner.
I like it, because I can always work at different parts of my running and maybe get better. I know that because I have, and the ways I’ve gotten better have surprised me through the years.
I really like that I do it even though I’m not particularly good at it. (I think that should tell you right there how much I like running! I can’t think of other things I do that I’m happy to do even though I don’t feel like I’m very good at it.)
And, better than all of this, I know I will never stand on a podium for running. “Winning” is plain and simple not possible in this body.
But I’m cool with that.
One could say it’s not possible for me to ever be President of the United States, and I will disagree. (T1s are taking over the world!) Yet win, for example, the San Francisco marathon? I’ll maybe be the first to say it isn’t going to happen.
It almost gives me a break from trying to win or excel at everything I do. When I’m running, or thinking about running, or have just returned from a run, or am signing up for a run, or am mapping out a run, I’m having a good time. I literally run errands, just for the heck of it and because I can.
I run by myself, I run with friends, I make new friends. It is completely not about winning.
Which sort of makes me… yeah… a winner.
Woot!
of course, I have totally taught my son this phrase too.