You run.
It doesn’t matter if you run fast or not.
(It doesn’t matter how you define “fast.”)
It doesn’t matter if you run short distances, long distances, or crazy long distances.
It doesn’t matter what your body shape is.
We sometimes have trouble giving ourselves a label when we feel like we’re “less than” in the crowd of people Doing The Thing.
But there are always going to be people running faster, running farther. So what?
I’m a runner. I run between one and three days most weeks.
I’m not a distance runner. My runs around the neighborhood are between two and three miles. I do 5Ks and 10Ks. I confirmed—twice—that half marathons are too long.
I’m not a fast runner. When I’m very consistent with my running, I run between 10:30 and 11-minute miles. Sometimes the weather changes that a bit. (Running in 105 or 110 degrees definitely drains the battery a bit.) I’ve done two sub-30-minute 5Ks, but I trained and have only done that with speed-specific training.
But I’m still a runner.
If you run, so are you.
Using bits that have been thrown around quite a bit:
No matter how slow you go, you’re lapping everyone on the couch.
and
A 15-minute-mile is just as long as a 6-minute-mile.
You want to do it? Get out there and do it. At your pace.
