Too slow? Too slow for what?

“Oh, you guys will probably finish way before me.” Yes, we will very likely finish the race before you. But, so what? A whole bunch of people will finish before us as well. I can’t worry about that, and neither should you. All that any of us can do is train for the race, arrive on race day, and run the best race that we are capable of on that day.
Too many times I hear runners—beginners, or relative beginners,  often, but even some experienced runners—who proclaim “I’m not as fast as you,” or “You’ll probably be showered and changed by the time I finish.” Maybe that’s true, but that doesn’t make one person a “better” runner than another. Ours is a culture, of course, that rewards “winners”: those who “podium,” finishing in the top three of the race or within their age and gender category. But besides being individuals with different natural abilities, we are also different due to our age, sex, the amount and quality of training we were able to do, and the purpose we have chosen for racing—achieving a PR, gaining an age-group finish, running with friends, running for charity, challenging ourselves, or running just for the fun of it. Fred Lebow, the late founder and longtime race director of the New York City Marathon, when told by a runner that she would be running the NYC Marathon, reportedly said, “Congratulations. Will you run the very best race that you can?”
Running the very best race that you can is all that you can ask of yourself. It doesn’t matter whether you finish in the top, middle, or back of the pack; each runner can only run to the best of her ability. A faster runner is maxing out her potential, running as fast as she is capable of running, but a slower runner is also maxing out his potential, running as fast as he can. In terms of effort, they are equal. Nobody should ever have to apologize for being “slow”; nobody should ever be afraid of “being last”; the last-placed runner is still a runner, still doing the best that he or she can. George Sheehan, the late physician and running advocate, said that the difference between a runner and a jogger is a race bib. If you have paid to enter a race and pinned on your race bib, you deserve to be there, you are a runner. Whether you finish first or last doesn’t matter as much for each individual, what matters is whether you ran the best race that you were capable of running.
Gotta run,
Craig
Local race: The Rotary Mission 10 (miles), 5K, and Kid’s run. San Juan Bautista, Saturday, January 25. http://mission10.racemine.com/Mission-10/events/2014/Rotary-Mission-Ten-10-Mile-5k—2014
Check out: South Valley Running Club www.svrchome.org and on Facebook