When You Run Your Own Race The Trophy Is Your Life

Seeing that number brought back the pain of that day.

I had three hours to finish and I wasn’t quite sure if I would. I came out of the final turn of my first half marathon and with one eye on the finish line and the other on the clock I knew it was going to be close. 

It was.

I made it.

And it hurt.

Going through a box of papers this week I found the race bib I had worn on that day. Number 156. It was a race I wish I had trained a bit differently for, but at age 59 I had officially completed the 13.1 mile distance the half marathon demanded of me. Dehydrated, sore, and legs like Jell-O, crossing that finish line was a joyful kind of pain I proudly earned every ounce of.

Coming in almost dead last in a field of 1,500 runners doesn’t sound very glorious but it was one of the greatest moments of my life. By the time I got to the finish line there were no balloons or confetti. The cheering crowds had long departed. The vendors were packing up, and the work crews were getting ready to reopen the road to vehicle traffic once stragglers like me finally crossed the finish line. But it didn’t matter. I wasn’t victorious by any quantifiable measure.

Victories don’t need to be.

Our world celebrates the winners. They’re the ones who capture the prize money and the big trophies. Perhaps, though, the greatest trophy comes from finishing first in a race only you can run.

Your life.

Half marathons and 5K’s have many runners competing on pre-determined courses. The parameters of what winning looks like are clearly delineated. Life, however, allows us to choose either a course which has been defined for us, or to choose a course we get to determine for ourselves. 

Choosing your own course allows you to define what winning looks like to you. You get to define your victories. You’re not competing against others, you’re instead making space for your own growth and evolution on your own terms, on your own time frame.

For you.

Winning for me has become about showing up. For me. To allow myself to be a beginner in a room full of experts. To allow myself the space and opportunity to expand and take risks and try the new things I want to try simply because I want to experience them. Be it running, cycling, baking, volunteering, photography or anything else I feel compelled to experience.

Nothing to explain or justify. 

No one needs to understand.

Nothing to quantify.

When you run your own race, the trophy is the life you’ve created for yourself.

That sounds like winning to me.

Photo by Catalin Pop on Unsplash