The Happy Runner: Love the Process, Get Faster, Run Longer

by David Roche

If you run for results, your happy runner journey is at the mercy of forces you don’t control. It’s okay to care about results, but not to let them define your self-worth as a runner or person.

A process-driven running life is the first step to being a happy runner long term. Because you are enough, every day, no matter what.

it truly is all about the full range of pizza options that you can experience along the way.

Long-term dreams (results) motivate day-to-day decisions (process).

You do realize that any sport that requires nipple guards and pooping in the woods is probably not a wise investment of your energy?”

Wherever you are in life in this moment, it is enough. Say “I am enough” so often that it loses all meaning

When your “Why?” is based on comparison and you fail, what happens next? The answer is that you burn out, you continue on an unsustainable path, or you grow as a runner and person.

Taking yourself super seriously rarely works because eventually the universe will show you that it disagrees wholeheartedly.

Meanwhile you constantly see memes on social media like “Life happens. Coffee helps.” There are almost never silly, uplifting jokes that destigmatize therapy.

think impermanence, let go of control, lean into it, know you’re not alone, exercise, practice self-compassion, and be patient.

Happy doesn’t mean living in a fairy tale; it means accepting ourselves when we can, knowing that even those times when we don’t love ourselves will pass.

It’s a good general life rule that if you think lots of other people are stupid, you may need to check your presuppositions about your own intelligence.

Author Michael Pollan coined one of the most famous sayings in nutrition in his book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.” That is incontrovertibly true according to most experts. For running, the equivalent phrase might be: “Run lots, not too much, mostly easy.”