Happiness and a Perception of No Progress
Happiness and a perception of no progress when it comes to marathons and half-marathons do not go together, but this perception can easily occur. Let’s look at how to overcome this perception.
I ran my fifteenth marathon last month.
It was the 2014 Chevron Houston Marathon.
My first marathon was eleven years earlier – also in January, and also in Houston.
It was the HP Houston Marathon back then, before Chevron assumed title sponsorship.
In hours and minutes, I had the same chip-time last month as I had eleven years earlier.
I wanted a faster time. I trained for a faster time. But, a faster time was not meant to be.
Initially, I was a bit bummed. After all, at first blush, it might look as if I made no progress between January, 2003, and January, 2014.
This is what I want to discuss — perception of no progress and how it affects your happiness.
Age
First, as my dear wife immediately pointed out upon learning about identical chip-times, running the same marathon in the same month eleven years later and getting the same result does not represent no progress.
I am eleven years older than I was in my first marathon.
Given that aging takes its toll on most runners’ marathon performance, getting the same chip-time with eleven more years of age represents progress!
Quality
Second, my wife noted after I finished Chevron last month that I looked the best that I had ever looked at the end of a marathon.
A dull ache crept into my feet around the half-way mark, and that ache slowed my pace in the second half by some two minutes/mile in comparison to my pace in the first half.
Still, I had to agree with her: Other than very tired feet, I felt better at the end of the 2014 Chevron than I had felt at the end of other marathons.
That’s progress!
Lessons Learned
Third, I began immediately after last month’s marathon to wonder why my feet had become sore.
I formed a couple of hypotheses, which I am not yet ready to share.
But, once I can test each of these hypotheses, I may have some lessons that I will have learned from that race.
That’s progress, too!
Misperception and Missed Perceptions
So, I had a misperception that I had made no progress because I missed perceptions that later came to me:
- Age matters.
- Quality matters.
- Lessons learned matter.
How can YOU avoid making this misperception about your own progress with your own races? I have two suggestions:
- Read about “The Missing-Tile Syndrome” in Dennis Prager’s book Happiness Is a Serious Problem.
- Read my book Gratitude Power for Runners and Walkers.
What Say You?
Have you ever been disappointed by your performance in a race? Reconsidering it, is it possible for you to re-frame your perspective along the lines of age, quality, or lessons learned? What do you do to get yourself out of a funk about a race performance? Please leave a comment here. Thanks!
