Personal Records are the Best Kind of Records
[Morgan & I pre-race]
Confession: I take my personal records very seriously (in all parts of life), so much that I nearly knocked down ten Santa Clauses and a few men in Speedos to beat mine at yesterday’s Jingle Bell 5K Run. I had my arms flailing, my legs moving faster than ever and I think I even boxed out a few Santas (oops). According to the timer on my iPod, I beat my PR of a previous 27:11 with a record-breaking 27:05. However, according to the online race results, I got 27:15, but I’m going to trust my iPod and celebrate anyway. If I had a clear pathway at the end (sans reindeer, Santas and fat men in Speedos), I totally could have broke 27 minutes. That’s all I’m sayin’. I was on a roll, baby!
But whether my time was 27:05 or 27:15, I am more than proud of myself. I am also ecstatic for my best friend who completed her first ever 5K! She hasn’t ran 3 miles straight in ages, yet finished the entire race like a champ just a little over 30 minutes. (Good job Morgs!) You see, her goal was simply to finish the race and that she did…beating a good 3,000 people or so too. If that’s not breaking a PR, I don’t know what is.
But, back to the point. I’ve never been an extremely competitive person. I don’t really care for gambling and I’ve never cried after a rec basketball loss. However when it comes to me and my personal achievements, that’s when I get competitive. That’s how it should be, after all. Who cares if your roommate ran the race in half your time? Why get down if your friend from college was offered a great job (and a raise) within one year after college? Why let someone else’s success completely break you down? If you think about you and you only, other people’s success won’t get to you. Be proud for them, and move on with it. They are them and you are you. Nothing else matters, really.
After all, there’s nothing quite like the feeling of knowing that you did it, that you reallllly did it. Whether that’s completing a 5K at record-breaking time, signing up for your first marathon, going after your dream job or pushing yourself to do yoga twice a week or aiming to be a better mother/friend/girlfriend, that’s completely up to you. But the fact that you did it all by yourself is the most rewarding thing there is in life.
December 20th, 2010 at 4:23 pm
I completely agree. I remember how much better I felt when I did things for myself instead of constantly comparing myself to others! Love this post!
May 7th, 2015 at 12:53 pm
Hofasho- Can’t have a good job? You kidding me bro? She has 3 jobs- Blow, Hand, and kithcen? You get the idea. Everything else a chick does just results in more talking