Comparison is the thief of Joy

Taken after my 5K PR in Victoria Park, London, UK in 2013

I really believe the quote from Theodore Roosevelt which is the title of this piece.  I have put it another way.  I coined the phrase "compare and despair" when I was training years ago with a much faster group.  This is why I never compete for age group awards (though I love the few that I have) and I don't worry about finishing last (I did that once and still had a PR...just a fast field that day).  But I do compare myself to myself...and occasionally I have to take a step back and think about that. 

Many runners, maybe even most runners I know measure themselves, at least in part by PRs (Personal Records) or PBs (Personal Bests).  As focused as I am on the fun, I am no different.  I don't race against others for the most part...but I do track my PRs as a way of measuring progress...comparing myself to myself. 

And most of the time this is a good mindset, but sometimes there are setbacks and changes...and we all get older.  So sometimes pushing for those PRs can be enormously frustrating, and for at least for a time, impossible. In those times, be they only a moment or a season of your life, it may be worth reconsidering. 

This is before my 4 mile PR in April 2014 in Wauconda, IL

My strategy in these moments, or seasons, is to press reset.  There are many who say a PR is a PR is a PR.  And of course I do keep track of my overall PRs.  But when I hit a rough patch, like my knee surgery several years ago for instance, I merely shout (usually quietly and internally) "Plot twist! Time for a reset!" For a year or so after that instance I measured PSPRs (Post Surgery PRs) which kept me going without beating myself up. 

On the run setting my 5 mile PR at the Georgetown Turkey Trot in Georgetown, TX November 2013

As I mentioned in my previous blog posting, I am having to press reset on my running due to some medication side effects, press reset on my type 2 diabetes with a brush up with the educator and nutritionist, and further a reset on my working life as I retired this week!  So it is time to start tracking Post Retirement, new season in life PRs. I may never get back to my 2013-2014 pace...but I will keep moving and improving!

NOTE: Interestingly all 3 of the PRs pictured in this blog (as well as my 10K PR, not pictured because I don't have a photo) are overall PRs...and all of them have happened SINCE my surgery for a torn meniscus, which at the time caused a reset. So a reset isn't giving up, or the end of all things...just a way to keep going and continue to feel good about one's progress. And even if you never have another overall PR, it reminds you that as long as you're moving, you're improving.