Every time someone tells me “the important thing is that you finished,” I feel very lucky to have so many people on my side, supporting and cheering me on. On race day though, you can be surrounded by thousands of people, and yet feel alone and isolated. It’s the nature of the sport. Yes, runners support each other, but ultimately each person is responsible for his or her own performance under the given conditions.
In the end, I am my hardest critic.
The thing is, I need to be this way. It’s the only way to improve, isn’t it? If I remain complacent and continually satisfied with my performance there isn’t much incentive to keep striving to get faster, or to get stronger. It’s why I train. It’s why I pour hours into putting in my mileage.
I’m certainly not discounting all of the well wishes that people have been sending my way. Far from it. I mean, it’s easy to feed off of the good energy. Someone needs to remind me though that there is room to grow, room to expand, room to progress. A good deal of that needs to come from within. Ultimately, that’s what fuels the drive.
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