Initially I was naive about the not stopping. I saw the non-stopping as key to being a runner. If I walked 3 or even 4 steps I saw it as failure, after all, walking is not running is it? The word pace never even entered my universe. <\/p>\n
Then when I started to do events like official 10k\u2019s and half marathons, people, mostly non-runners, would ask about my times. They\u2019d reply with things such as \u2018Oh, that\u2019s not a bad pace considering.\u2019
\nThe use of the word considering lay heavy on my aching limbs. <\/p>\n
Considering what? That I\u2019d run? That I wasn\u2019t Mo Farah? That I was still not being taken in that elusive world we assume is running? <\/p>\n
\u2018How fast should I be running?\u2019 I\u2019d ask people who I identified as \u2018official\u2019 runners.
\n\u2018As fast as you can?\u2019
\nWhatever feels comfortable?\u2019
\n\u2018It\u2019s your run!\u2019 <\/p>\n
Cue my comparison obsession. <\/p>\n
I was faster than the girl I went to school with but slower than the bloke I worked with and near enough the same pace as the bloke who carries the washing machine around races. What should my pace be? Unlike people\u2019s results, there was no chart or calculator that told me a 5 foot 2 point 8, Taurine female should run at blah, blah, blah pace. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s taken me a very long time to accept my pace. And the thing about pace, like so many other things in life, is that it changes. It\u2019s dependent on the weather, your feelings, how much training you\u2019ve done, or not done which is so often my case these days.
\nIt\u2019s taken me nearly 5 years of running to work out that my parkrun pace will be a hell of a lot quicker than my half marathon pace, it\u2019s also taken me various apps, two GPS watches and a Fitbit come to terms with the fact I am very susceptible to obsessive pace disorder not to mention irritable pace syndrome. Which, for someone who claims to just love running for what it is, is ridiculous! <\/p>\n
Lisa Jackson, author of Your Pace or Mine says;
\n\u2018I don\u2019t feel I have to prove anything when I run, I just want the feeling of being free, free to chat, free to sing, and free to not answer emails!\u2019 <\/p>\n
And there it is ladies and gentlemen a lesson to us all!
\nWho cares if someone my age, weight and shoe size can run a faster half than me? Who cares if I don\u2019t get a PB every time? Who cares if my running is someone\u2019s walking pace, what does it really matter? I\u2019ve still run. I\u2019ve still conquered something that years ago seemed impossible and I\u2019ve still earned that accomplishment.
\nWhen it comes to running, there is no comparison.<\/p>\n
Now, in the words of someone like Ellie Goulding, who\u2019s a keen runner herself FYI; pace out!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I started running it was about putting one foot in front of the other. It was about moving my body, covering the distance, well, actually it was all about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":3248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n