I pace myself, 'cause
getting fit is not a sprint,
it's a marathon.
I run because I want to be fitter. And, to be honest, because I want to lose size. Those of you who have met me in person know that there's just a little bit too much of me. Now, due to some circumstances, I haven't been able to run much in the last half of 2024. At least, not enough. Now that I'm getting back into it, I notice that for a youngster in his earl fifties, it's a bit harder to get back into than for a youngster in his early thirties. It takes me more time to get to the level of running that I would like to be at. It was easier before, to run better than the previous run each time. Farther, faster, or both. Now, it's not so obvious, and sometimes, the run of the day is just as good, or maybe not quite as good, as the previous one.
When that starts to eat at me, I tell myself to remember what the goal is. The goal is not to become a better runner. The goal is to get fitter and lose size. Size is my KPI. To achieve that, I need to burn more calories (and consume less). This is the long time goal. So, maybe today's run was not better enough than the previous one, but if I zoom out, I have run more often, and thus burned more calories, this month than the previous month. To focus on my KPI: my clothes fit a little bit better than last month, my belt is a hole tighter now. And that is what matters. It's about the long term result, not the short term wins.
Now, that goes for more than just getting fitter, doesn't it?
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Poésie de la vie
When you talk about running, this is a runner who is different than all the others, and an inspiration, too.
We're trying to find the right pace in your Weekly Poetry Shot #230. Often, it's better to not focus on the short-term gains, but to zoom out. https://paragraph.xyz/@trpplffct/the-right-pace