If You're Not The Fastest, Why Run If You Can't Win?

A child asked me, "if you're never going to win, why run in a race?"

And I feel like that might be a really good question, but a better question is:

As a runner, when do you feel like you have won?

Here's my answer.

When I finally ran my first mile straight through, I won.

When I surprised myself with a finish time that was better than I expected at my very first 5k race, I won.

When I stopped running for fitness and weight loss, and started striving to stay fit so that I could keep running, I won.

When I started to enjoy watching others accomplish their own goals involving running, no matter how different their goals are from mine, I won.

When I met unique, intelligent, inspiring, uplifting people at races and group runs, I won.

And the best part of this type of winning, is that I can win over and over again. Every time it feels like the first time.

So if you think you're a slow runner, consider looking at all the other ways you've won since you started running.