Run.
Like most of us, I've always been fascinated by story-telling. This capacity to make even the dullest happening into something exciting. The insight of transforming something complex and obscure into something clearly visible. The art of keeping the attention of the spectator.
Oftentimes, the art of story-telling is strictly related to the art of images and metaphors. A good metaphor can explain the most complex concept.
Running, to me, has done something similar with life. Running has emerged as an incredible and illuminating metaphor for life.
let's run a half marathon!
I have never been particularly fond of running. I have always incorporated it in some other sports, mostly football. The idea of just running, without a real purpose, was never appealing to me, to say the least. Running was always a means to something else. Nonetheless, after stopping playing football, I started running. I started because I wanted to keep my fitness level up, and running was the easiest way to do it. For many years, I did it very irregularly. I would run a couple of times a week, and then stop for weeks. I can't say I didn't like it at all, but for sure I wasn't passionate about it. Fast forward to 2 years ago, it's the June of '23. I'm chatting with a friend of mine, we're waiting for some other friends to join us for a drink. I just went for a small run and I'm complaining about how I can't manage to get better and to be consistent with it. My friend has the same problem. But she also has a solution: let's sign up for a half marathon!
The first similarity between running and life is here. Having a goal. Having a goal makes a difference. Having a clear, well defined, and specific goal makes a lot of difference. I already had the goal of staying fit before, but that was not working really well. I felt fine. I didn't define what "fit" meant for me. I could skip running easily. Running a half marathon has a name, surname, and a date. Can't get more clear than that. And that is what moved me. I have a goal. I have a plan. I can do this.
suffer and pain
Goals, though, are hardly everything. At first, the idea was to run a 10k, but my friend tricked me into signing up for a half marathon. Oddly enough, I was mostly convinced by the fact that my friend also made me discover that my sport watch could plan the training for the half marathon. That was perfect, cause I didn't have to worry about anything and my watch could keep a watch on my consistency. I signed up, started training, and immediately regretted it. At my first training. I remember I had to run some repetitions. 800 meters running fast, 3 minutes walking, and repeat. At my first repetition, I thought my watch was broken because it kept going. How much am I supposed to run? I didn't know it was 800 meters. I didn't know how many repetitions I had to do. It was annoying and painful. Before that, my longest run was 8k. My fastest pace was 5:30 min/km, more or less. At my 3rd training, in the first week, I had to run 12k. I was scared, but I managed to do it. The watch told me to do it. It must have been right. So I soldiered through.
There are several reasons why I think running is a great metaphor for life. Suffer and pain are definitely in the list. Don't get me wrong, I don't think life (and running) is all about suffering and pain. And I don't think they are bad things, either (at least in this case). On the contrary. I think that being able to reach the point where you enjoy the pain you are going through, recognising that the pain comes from your strong effort, is one of - if not THE - secret to success. Consistency - another crucial aspect in running and life - will naturally follow from this. If you enjoy the process, you will want to do it regularly. Talking about my experience, studying hard for several years definitively leads to some suffering. But it is necessary to become a good researcher. Running 5 times a week, for several months, even when it is raining, when it is cold, is without a doubt painful and hard. But it is necessary to get better at running. Being able to enjoy this process is a superpower. If you enjoy the painful process of becoming a better version of yourself, you are unstoppable.
trust the process
My first half marathon was scary. I did not know if I was trained enough to finish it in the time I had in mind. I trained all right, skipped some days here and there, but overall I was consistent. But what the hell did I know about running 21k? For the first 5k, I kept telling my friend that we were going too fast. That I wouldn't be able to keep that pace for 21k. Thanks to her experience, though, she told me that I was fine. I had enough breath to talk so we were not running too fast. She was right. Not only I could keep that pace, but for the last 3k I could speed up, too! The 10k I made after 6 months was different but similar. I knew I was trained and fit, but I wasn't feeling at my best that day. Nonetheless, I got the lesson from my first half marathon and trusted the process. The first 3k were horrible, I was gasping for air. My legs didn't feel ready at all. But I knew I had it in me. I trained. My legs were there. Just keep going, don't panic. After the first 3k, I felt much better. I found my pace and finished the race in my goal time.
Especially when something is new, it is very easy to panic, to doubt yourself. You don't know what to expect. You prepared for it, but is it enough? Did you waste all that time just to fail? It is there that you need to trust the process. You can either succeed or fail. That's ok. Either way, you're still in the process. And remember, we love the process. Thanks to running, I learned, once and for all, that I have to trust my abilities. I have to trust the hard work I put in. Even in failure, I'm a better version of myself now. We got this.
race yourself
If it is a race, how on earth can you not be disappointed if 1000 people ran faster than you? When I first started running, I was always quite uncomfortable when somebody overtook me. Even when I was just training. I wanted to be faster than them! Later on, when I started properly training for my first half marathon, and I had different kinds of training, I understood how stupid that was. People are doing completely different things, different kinds of training. Why should I care if I was slower? It would be like comparing to someone on a bike, for what it matters. The extension of this concept to the race is straightforward. I trained for a particular time, not for a particular position. People around me could be my age and gender, but at their 10th marathon and have a totally different goal. It doesn't matter. So, one other important thing I learned was that I just race myself.
Let's conclude our parade with the dullest but most valuable of cliches. I am learning, and suffering, and training for different things than most of the other people around me. My goals are my own. I am not competing with them. I am in the process of becoming a better version of myself. I have to beat my former self. That's it.
Conclusions
Everytime so far while training for a race, I doubt my choices and tell myself that I will stop for a while after the race. The truth is that I'm 3 days after the last one and am already looking for the next one. I want to improve myself again. I finished my first half marathong in 1h 52m, in October '23. After 1 year, I finished my second one in 1h 44m. A good improvement. I finished my last - for now - half marathong in 1h 31m. It's a great time. When I first started training, I would never had thought to come this far. I'm sure there are lots of other metaphors to life. I particularly like this one. Because it is my own. I got to this point, I've learned these things experiencing them. I suffered in my trainings, I doubted and then learned to trust the process. I surpassed myself. I think it is the right path.
Love the Process.