Tell me if this happens to you.

You are working on your goals, let’s say you are new to running and are 4 weeks into a Couch to 5K training plan. Each week you are doing your scheduled 3 runs and are starting to see improvements in your fitness. You feel really good about it, your patience and hard work is starting to pay off. YES, that is awesome!

Then one day you are scrolling on social media and see someone you don’t know saying how slow their run was, and you think to yourself “Heck, I couldn’t even run that pace if I was being chased down by 3 lions”. Seeing the post leaves you feeling ugh about your progress; you thought you were doing well, but now you tell yourself that what you are doing is rubbish.

STOP THAT THINKING NOW!

Social media can be great, but dang it’s an awful place if you start comparing yourself to others there.

Here is the thing, that runner you found on social media, you have no idea a) how long they’ve been running for b) how many hours a week they train c) what they are training for, and d) if they are actually telling the truth or if they are posting those things about being ‘slow’ to get likes and comments.

It’s absolutely pointless comparing yourself to others because you have no idea if you are comparing your beginning to their end! You are learning to run right now, heck, they might be on their 10th Boston Marathon! You could be comparing apples to oranges. This is why staying in your own lane – and by that, I mean just concentrating on yourself and your own progress – is so important.

Sure, using the progress of others as inspiration and motivation totally works, but comparing where you are at in your journey with someone else is pointless. Everyone is out there doing their own thing.

Stay in your own lane.

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ONLINE RUNNING COACHING

Is one of your goals this year to tackle a new running distance, or heck, even begin running? It can be hard going alone, I’ve been there with the uncertainty and having no clue if what I was reading online was correct or absolute BS. If you’d like to spend an hour chatting with me about coaching and whether working together to help you achieve your running goal might be right for you, then click on the link below to book yourself a completely free consultation call. I promise it’s not sales-y and you are not locked into anything, it’s 100% just a conversation around your running goals and what I could do to support you.

Alternatively, I have 4 on-demand training packs available: Couch to 5K, Running 10K, Running Your First Half-Marathon, and Running Your First Marathon.