But it works well enough for our purposes, eh?
This week’s newsletter will be a bit shorter than last week’s, and more in line with the length I plan to post (400-500 words, or enough to read in just a few minutes). If you’ve missed previous installments, you can find the intro here, and the initial descriptions of the Connect, Care and Challenge pillars.
This last one, Commit, is really about persistence, not perfection, and how running fits in.
Here’s the thing about running: If you want to get good at it, you have to be consistent. There’s no way around it. You can’t run hard twice a month and expect to improve. You have to show up regularly, even when you don’t feel like it, even when the weather sucks, even when your legs are tired from yesterday’s workout.
I’ve learned that the same applies to becoming a better person. You have to keep trying, day after day. Just like running, the work doesn’t happen in dramatic moments, either. It happens in the daily decision to show up for yourself and others.
Here’s the part that I still struggle with: running and personal growth don’t follow a nice, smooth upward trajectory. What I struggle with is that in my brain, I know it’s okay to have ups and downs, but in my heart, I wish it were more straightforward.
You can have a terrible run, and it won’t ruin your goals. I’ve had runs where my pace was embarrassingly slow, where I felt like I was moving through mud, where I questioned why I even bother. Last, week I tripped over my own feet near the beginning of a run and made hamburger out of my hand and a shoulder. Talk about discouraging. So I went home and cleaned up the wounds instead of soldiering on. But I ran the next morning. I think it’s important that I remind myself that those runs don’t erase the progress I’ve made or destroy my fitness goals. They’re just part of the process.
Personal growth works the same way. You’re going to have days where you react poorly, where you fall back into old patterns, where you feel like you’re not making progress. That’s not failure – that’s just being human. I think it’s important to give yourself grace while still acknowledging what happened, and then keep going.
I tell my middle school track athletes this all the time: a bad race doesn’t make you a bad runner. Missing one workout doesn’t mean you should quit the team. What matters is what you do next. Do you use the setback as an excuse to give up, or do you get back after your goals?
Commit means showing up imperfectly rather than not showing up at all. It means accepting that growth isn’t linear. Some days you’ll take steps backward.
My encouragement to you: Next time you’re not acting like the person you want to be, reset and keep going. Remind yourself: You don’t have to be perfect, you just have to keep trying.
If you know someone who’ll find this newsletter helpful, please share it with them! See you next week and have a great weekend! I plan to run 7-9 miles on Saturday and a short run on Sunday.