There are days when I go out running with a specific goal in mind: I want to cover a certain number of kilometres, try to maintain a particular pace or prepare for a race. At those times, part of the satisfaction comes from seeing progress, feeling stronger or managing to do something that seemed difficult not so long ago.

Then there are other days when I go out simply because I feel like running. No training plan to follow, no pace to chase and no particular concern about what the GPS will say at the end. These are often the runs I remember most fondly.

Because running isn’t just a sport in which we try to improve our performance. It’s also a way to feel good, carve out some time for ourselves and clear our minds. We don’t necessarily have to improve with every run to find value in what we do.

Running Slowly to Make Room for Your Thoughts

One of the things I appreciate most about running is the freedom to experience it in different ways. There are workouts where I try to improve and others where I want to test my endurance, but there are also days when I simply need to get outside and run without thinking too much about what I’m doing.

Slow runs are what give me this feeling most of all. When I ease off the pace and let my breathing find its natural rhythm, it feels as though my mind slows down too. My thoughts become clearer, ideas begin to fall into place and problems that seemed complicated before I left home start to feel more manageable.

It’s a feeling I associate with a form of moving meditation. I don’t need to clear my mind or focus on anything in particular. I just need to run without rushing, allowing thoughts to come and go, with fewer distractions and more space to listen to myself.

Of course, slow running also has a practical training purpose: it helps develop aerobic fitness and allows us to build up mileage at a manageable intensity, supporting recovery between more demanding sessions. But for me, its value doesn’t end there. It’s also a mental space, a moment when I can step away from the noise of everyday life and return home with a clearer head.

If a run can give me all that, why should I judge it solely by the pace I maintained?

The Real Competition Is with Ourselves

It’s often said that our biggest opponent in running is ourselves. I agree with that idea, although I like to interpret it a little differently from the usual meaning.

I don’t just think about the version of ourselves that runs more slowly and that, with time and training, we can try to surpass. I also think about the version that would have stayed at home, put the run off until tomorrow or chosen to spend their free time on the sofa instead.

There’s nothing wrong with resting. Learning to listen to our bodies also means understanding when it’s better to stop. But we all know that sometimes the hardest part isn’t physical tiredness: it’s finding the motivation to get started.

That’s why I like to think that an important part of our personal challenge is precisely this: finding time for ourselves, getting outside, moving and taking care of our well-being. And not every run needs to be memorable. Sometimes all it takes is twenty minutes around the neighbourhood, an easy run in the park or a few kilometres after a difficult day.

The value of a workout doesn’t depend solely on the distance or speed, but also on what it means to us.

You Don’t Have to Be Fast to Be a Runner

One thing I’ve always appreciated about the running community is the atmosphere I’ve often found among runners: people with very different experiences, fitness levels and goals, all sharing the same passion. Some run to win, others want to improve their personal best, some are preparing for their first 10K, while others simply head out to feel good.

In my experience, I’ve often found a positive and inclusive attitude towards people who run more slowly. Of course, there are exceptions: even in this community, you’ll find people who judge others or seem to recognise value only in times and performances. But I think that’s a rather limited way of looking at running.

A runner who runs at six, seven or eight minutes per kilometre isn’t doing anything less important than someone who runs much faster. They’re not necessarily putting in less effort, nor are they having a less meaningful experience. They’re simply running at their own pace.

You don’t have to earn the right to call yourself a runner through a particular performance. You just have to show up, with your own goals, abilities and desire to run. Everyone starts somewhere different and has to work around their own schedule, energy levels and responsibilities. Comparing results alone means overlooking everything that goes into achieving them.

From a Short Jog Around the Neighbourhood to the New York City Marathon

Running can mean twenty minutes around the neighbourhood after a day at work, a lap of the park before the rest of the family wakes up, a training session with a friend or a marathon you’ve spent months preparing for. It can be the first time you manage to run for ten minutes without stopping, or an attempt to beat your personal best. It can take you exploring an unfamiliar city or carry you across the finish line of the New York City Marathon after years of dreaming about the experience.

These are very different experiences in terms of effort, duration and meaning, but there’s no need to pit them against one another. For some people, preparing for a marathon is a once-in-a-lifetime project. For others, finding half an hour three times a week is already a significant achievement.

The right level is the one we find for ourselves, the one that fits into our lives and allows us to keep running for enjoyment. A marathon can be an extraordinary achievement for someone who has prepared for it with dedication and determination, but a twenty-minute run can also represent a personal milestone, perhaps after a long break or during a difficult period.

We don’t necessarily have to do extraordinary things for running to have an important place in our lives.

Improving Is Great, but It Shouldn’t Become an Obligation

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to improve. Having a goal, preparing for a race, following a training plan and seeing the results of your hard work can be incredibly satisfying. Pushing ourselves is one of the reasons this sport can become such a passion.

The problem starts when improvement becomes a requirement for feeling satisfied. If every workout has to be faster than the last, if a slow day feels like a disappointment and if a race without a personal best seems almost like a failure, we risk losing sight of why we started in the first place.

Running isn’t a constant upward progression. There are periods when we improve, others when we plateau and still others when we need to slow down to recover or adapt to whatever life throws our way. We can’t expect to always be in our best shape, or turn every run into a test we have to pass.

We can want to become faster runners without forgetting that we’re already runners right now. We can train for an ambitious race while still appreciating an easy run where we have nothing to prove.

The Best Run Is the One You Make Your Own

I believe one of the most beautiful things about running is precisely the freedom to give it different meanings at different stages of our lives. At certain times, it can be an athletic challenge, a way to test our limits. At others, it can become a source of calm, a habit that helps us switch off from work or an opportunity to explore new places.

We don’t have to choose just one of these aspects. We can move between them, allowing running to adapt to what we need. If we feel like preparing for a marathon, we can do that. If, instead, we feel the need to put the stopwatch aside and run without any particular goal, we can allow ourselves to do that too.

Sometimes, all it takes to rediscover our motivation is remembering that we’re not obliged to turn every passion into a performance. We can run because we enjoy it, because it makes us feel good, because it helps us think or because, after a difficult day, we feel the need to get outside and let our legs do the work.

Ultimately, the real competition isn’t always against the people who overtake us along the way or the time displayed on our watch. Sometimes, it’s simply against the version of ourselves that would rather have stayed home, put it off again or given up on a moment that could have made us feel better.

Whether it’s twenty minutes around the neighbourhood or a marathon in New York, running remains a personal challenge, but above all, a personal pleasure. You don’t have to prove anything to anyone: find your own pace, your own goal and your own way of enjoying running. And remember that sometimes the most important result isn’t how fast you ran, but how good it made you feel to get out there.