LOOKING BACK ON IT

Living in such a big city it’s not often I get to witness my progress in the form of beating another actual person. Success is usual determined by a number on a website in the form of xx:xx:xx and the only way you know if you’re any good or not is to monitor your numbers from race to race.

Signing up for a small race is a good way to look yourself dead in the eye in the form of another person. A race of say, 20 or 30 people or so. (As opposed to a race of 7,000 when there are people crossing the finish line at any given one second interval). In a race with so few people you have the pleasure of turning around and witnessing your hard work in the form of seconds, inches, feet, or minutes.

Crossing the finish line and turning around to witness the next guy finish the same race really puts a shit load of perspective on all that hard work you’ve put in on a daily basis. While completely exhausted, you get to witness up close and personal what would have been you had you not put in that extra day at the track or gone to bed that hour earlier.

When it’s all said and done, you are the only person in the universe that cares about the distance in which you beat the guy behind you, because you are not racing against him, you’re racing against yourself.

Yet another reason why running is the most amazing thing in the world.