Weekending Recap + Comparing Ourselves to Other Runners!

Brooke was the only person awake when I was leaving for my run so she asked to come with me on her bike.

I told Brooke to tell me when she was ready to be done and we could just have Andrew pick us up but she didn’t run out of energy and I was the one to be done first:). 7 miles @ 9:32 pace.

We found a little fairy home while we were out.

We came home and had breakfast and then we went to Andrew’s aunt’s pool in the mountains.  The kids were obsessed with the fact that you could swim from an indoor pool to an outdoor pool.  I was obsessed with the fact that it was a lot cooler where she lives vs where we live.

The kids then spent hours in her playroom and were quite disappointed when we had to leave.

On the way out we passed by the Heber Valley Artisan Cheese store and decided last second that we needed to bring home some items from the store.  We learned quickly that this store is a Heber MUST if you are ever there.  Their cheese is unreal.

As soon as I finished my first grilled cheese sandwich I asked Andrew if he could turn the car around to get me another sandwich.

It was literally the best tasting thing I’ve had my entire pregnancy.  I have a feeling we will be back there this week.

Andrew went out for a run on Saturday night at 11 pm and he learned the hard way that eating sour gummy worms as you are walking out the door for a run doesn’t feel very good during the run.  He is still running but not doing long runs anymore (his marathon was cancelled) and biking a whole lot more.

We had our first week back to church.  The meeting was 30 minutes long with everybody wearing masks and sitting rows apart from the other few  families there were there.

We were even ten minutes early which just goes to show how much we’ve missed it.

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I received this email the other day and jumped on the idea to make it a future post topic because I would LOVE to hear what you do to avoid this struggle.  We can help each other and this internet friend:

I think this is something that 99.9% of us have experienced or experience now and so I’ll share what helps me to avoid comparing myself to other runners:

*As runners we know better than anyone that we all have good days and bad days out there!  It’s a waste of time to compare ourselves to another runner because maybe they are having the fastest day of their lives or maybe you are in a different part of your cycle where your hormones aren’t helping matters or maybe you are doing back to back races and your legs are starting the race tired, maybe the person you are comparing yourself to is able to get double the amount of sleep you get due to your stage of life etc.  We all have different stories, backgrounds and histories and you are there to prove to yourself that you are doing the best YOU can do.

*I like to think of it this way—> When I go into a race I want to use every ounce of mental and physical energy to do my best out there.  Spending time comparing myself to the people around me takes from that energy and I can’t lose that energy because I need that energy to hit my dream paces.

*Two pictures from STRONG that I love.  If I know anything about runners, I know that runners know how to work.  The mental training of running takes a lot of work but it is worthwhile in making your running more enjoyable and helping you to reach your goals.  My favorite mental training books/podcasts are HERE!

*Just the other day I was on IG and saw a girl that was at the same point I am in with her pregnancy and she was running minutes per mile faster than I am running right now.  I went from my current thoughts of ‘HOLY COW Janae, you are rocking this pregnant running thing’ to ‘why is my body running slower than hers and how come I can’t do that?’ My mood instantly changed and I felt so down.  Like anything in life, I really don’t feel like we have control over the first thoughts that pop into our heads BUT we have all of the control in the world of whether we continue to think that way or change our thoughts after that first thought.  I then decided my second thought about the situation was to think about how what somebody else is doing doesn’t not change or diminish what I am doing.  We are all on our own paths/journeys and somebody else’s success doesn’t take away from mine.  It felt so much better to think, ‘awesome girl, you are on fire’ and to cheer her on than to take myself down.

*The people in your world that love you, love you for who you are… not for how you compare to other runners.  Take the pressure off of yourself.  We do this because it’s ‘fun’ and maybe we should take a break from it if we are losing the fun aspect?!

*I remind myself to stay in my own lane… I’ve learned life is much more enjoyable that way.

*Get off of social media if this is really effecting you.  Social media is fabulous in so many ways but I also see how it can really be hard (after my divorce I peaced out on social media for a while because I was constantly comparing my singleness to everyone’s ‘happy familyness’ and it really helped me to stop comparing).

*Ask yourself… ‘Is the way that I am talking to myself the way I would talk to my best friend or a young girl?’   Sometimes when I am having negative thoughts about myself I tell myself it is time to talk to myself the way I talk to Brooke.  Encourage, build, lift and EMPOWER the people you love and that includes yourself.

*Remind yourself over and over again that comparing yourself is only going to take you further away from your goals, not closer.  Not only does it rob you of JOY but our mental game is huge in a race and if we are thinking negative thoughts about ourselves, there is no way we will hit our potential.

*We all belong.  Every. Single. One. Of. Us.  Please don’t ever forget this.

*If you are in a race and comparing yourself to people around you and what they are doing, ask yourself the question, “Am I doing the best I can do in this moment.”  Refocus your thoughts on you and what you are doing.  Put on those blinders and move forward in your journey!  All that matters is that you are doing the best that you can do.

*Many times my main goal is to hit a certain time on the clock but I also will go into races wanting to place or get in the top 10 etc if it is a local race… so is that comparing myself to others?  I don’t think so because no matter what happens out there on the course, it doesn’t change my worth.  Who I am is who I am and the people I am racing against… that is SO out of my control.  I can’t control how many miles they have run, who their coach is, who shows up on race day or what their strengths are.  As long as I leave the race knowing I gave what I have, I’m a happy camper.

*This is a random tidbit that I think goes along with this—> 2019 was such a year of growth for my running and my brain.  One of the biggest things that was proven to me over and over again is THE POWER OF WOMEN WORKING TOGETHER.  Emilee and I could have absolutely spent our time comparing ourselves to the other person and that would have driven quite the wedge in our friendship and our training (and I’ve seen this happen in so many different training groups/partners)… BUT we saw what crazy things can happen (hitting race PRs in every distance in one year) when you work together to make the other person stronger while you get stronger too.  Her success felt like my successes and vis versa.  In work, in running, in life, in everything… I want to choose to see opportunities as an ‘all you can eat buffet’… There is more than enough goodness for everyone at the top.  The more women that rise, the better because it then in turn inspires us to rise with them and to lift up others on our way up in the world!

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How do you avoid comparing yourself to other runners?  Has this ever been a problem for you?  

Tell me about the best part of your weekend!

Food or meal that you’ve eaten right before a run that you learned the hard way is not the best thing for you to eat before a run?

Who was the last person that you went out on a run with?