Running club taught me a lot more than running

I started running with the running club sometime around September last year and one thing I had promised myself was I would be consistent. I had promised myself that being the last one in the group wouldn’t stop me from going and I would focus on just getting my stamina up. I remember the first time we ran I was the last one to finish and I also remember one of my goals was to be able to talk while running because I used to be the only one who couldn’t join in the conversation.

Over time I improved just by being consistent my stamina improved so did my speed. At some point my running club runs had become comfortable Michelle noticed I could even talk while running (I completely missed that till she pointed it out)

Anyways now (a few months in) the running club members changed. The trainers are the same but other runners who join in have changed. These runners are much faster and a lot more fitter suddenly I found myself struggling again. Again I am the last one finishing, again my talking reduced and again I have started to worry about getting a stitch while running!!! I was so disappointed and upset with myself, I felt like I was moving in the wrong direction.

After a few days of beating myself up I knew I had to stop and look at this logically…first things first I was running with people are way more fit so without realizing I had increased my speed just to keep up that’s why I was struggling and that’s why I felt like I was not improving but the truth was my speed had improved even though I was struggling I was actually running at a speed more than my usual speed (I had moved ahead from my comfortable speed). 

Finally now I am back to enjoying my running club instead of beating myself up about it, I still haven’t reached a point where I can say my runs are comfortable, I am still struggling to talk while running but I love listening to everybody else talk, they talk about their workouts they tell me how I can improve it’s fun…

Being a part of the running club made me reminded me again that I should stop comparing, I should only focus on my improvement and improvements can be measured in different ways. Another important thing is there will always be people better than you, people from whom you can learn and there will always be people whom you can help improve…

Keep Reading I will Keep Writing 
Tanvee