Whether you’ve just stepped over the finish line of your 50th parkrun or your first marathon, what’s the first question you have to answer? Is it, “How does it feel to have completed your parkrun/ marathon, you amazing woman?” Or is it, “Blimey, that’s amazing, do your feet hurt?” Is it even, “Do you need water/ nourishment?” Nope. It’s this: “What was your time?”
A lot of us thrive on the timing thing: it’s a way in which we can judge our own performances and a simple way to register our improvements week on week. And that’s fine. But time isn’t the only way to measure success. And in fact, purely using time as our success measurement can be extremely damaging: concern about time can prevent runners from even beginning a race in the first place.