Patience Young 🦗Grasshopper

The difference between a new runner and an old one: patience

Aug 12, 2022

I’ve done a few runs recently with runners who are much younger than I am.

It feels good to run with people - I don’t do that often - but also, it brings me back to the days when every run felt so important. That each daily run I did really helped me become a better runner. And I would see those results almost right away. Because a new runner’s timeline is so short, every run they do does actually make them better. We “aged” runners know that not every run is super-important in the grand scheme of things, but back then, it felt that way.

It’s only in the past couple of weeks have I realized that I’ve been running for over 23 years (a 20-year high school reunion invitation will do that) and in that time, a lot has happened to and with my running. I’ve gained perspective and patience. I’ve learned to listen to my body on when to ramp up training and when to back off. I’ve grown as an athlete - mixing in strength work and cross training to supplement my running. As a younger runner, I’m not sure those thoughts ever really crossed my mind. My focus was on being a better runner and to do that, each and every run had to be on point.

For these young runners, every run they do feels so important and career-defining because they literally haven’t run that much (in terms of months and years). They’re still new at it and every run they start feels like it has to pack a punch.

On the other hand, I’ve done thousands of runs and so when one run doesn’t go as planned, it’s not that big of a deal. But to someone who’s only done a few hundred runs, a botched run seems like the world is crumbling around them.

The patience I’ve crafted and fine-tuned over the years comes from having great coaches, but also from the setbacks I’ve had (stress fractures, pinched nerves, Achillies tendinitis, among the many, many others) that have forced me to put running into perspective. These types of setbacks typically keep someone away from running for multiple months. If someone new has a setback like this, it could be upwards of half of their running career. But since I’ve been running for so long, it’s going to stink, for sure, but I can understand that there were plenty of good stretches of training and there will be way more good stretches in the future.

Patience, in those situations, tells me not to panic. Not to throw in the towel. To relax and focus on each individual step. Taking care of everything, methodically, is what will get someone back to where they want to be.

Finding patience has helped me realize that a missed run or a sucky workout isn’t the end of the world.