Wednesday Word: Victory

The first Wednesday of each month, the Deb from Deb Runs will be providing a word about which to blog. Kind of like a nice little blog prompt. Posts can be fitness or health related, but don’t have to be, so really anyone can play along. Just be sure to link up with InLinkz on Deb’s main post, and share the love by reading and commenting on other’s participant’s posts.

Today’s word is Victory.

There are so many ways to approach this word in relation to running.

We rarely run a race to win it.  But we do measure our victories against our own personal goals. Did we run without walking?  Did we set a course PR? Did we have a distance PR?  Did we tackle the hills?  Did we have a consistent pace?  Did we have negative splits? Did we run without pain when coming back from an injury? Did we cross the finish line? Did we have fun?

finishing my first race after not running for 5 months (post ankle surgery) = victory

These are all victories.

substitute “victory” for “success”

Yes, there are those of us who are natural runners and are fast without any effort.  But most of us need to work at it.  We need put in those training runs. We need to do those drills. We need to rest when injured.  We need to stretch. We need to cross-train.

occasionally I do stretch after a run

These are some of the steps that a runner needs to take in order to succeed (or be victorious.)

Sure, it’s easier to just run 5ks. And to many, running a 5k is a challenge. But if you are successful in completing 3.1 miles, why not challenge yourself – 10K, 15K, half marathon, marathon, ultra?

The challenge will be different for each runner.  For me, 13.1 miles is still a challenge even after 24 of them.

I will never forget that “exhilarating” feeling when I was heading toward the finish line of my first half marathon. It took me years to attempt that challenge but I’m so glad I did.

This is my favorite one:

It says it all!! No explanation needed.

we earned our medals!

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I’m also linking with Susie and Rachel and Debbie and Lora for the Running Coaches’ Corner.

Happy Running! What does “victory” mean to you?