127 | The Best Way Is Your Way

Dear beautiful humans,

I’ve been back running for a little over a month now. It’s an easy way to move my body each day, and simply putting on my shoes and getting out the door is much harder to make excuses for.

But running every day on the pavement was wearing on my body, and I began to feel pulled to the trail again.

Then, my friend invited me to run a 50K next year for her 40th birthday, and the wheels started turning.

I first started trail running in 2013 I believe.

I was pretty intimidated at the time to try it, but my friend Tyler kept inviting me to group trail runs, so I finally gave in. I fell in love with it immediately.

The next year, when I turned 30, I got the idea to do a 30 mile race to commemorate the occasion. That grew into the idea to run a 50 mile race, which sounded impossible, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

At the time, I was working through a really hard season, and thinking about taking on this impossible race made taking on the impossible circumstances and challenges ahead more doable.

Every morning, I woke up, drove to a trail, and ran. Rain or shine. Showing up every day on the trail, helped me show up every day in life.

Running across that finish line is a moment I will never forget, but I'll also never forget what that moment represents ... day after day of showing up.

I got back on the trail this week, and I’ve been so happy to have dirt under my feet! I was running up a hill this morning on a trail I had trained on for my first race, and I suddenly remembered a very simple revelation I had on that trail almost a decade ago:

I can go no one’s pace but my own.

People will be slower than me and faster than me, and their pace has nothing to do with me. My pace is my pace.

It’s wild how easily we can start comparing ourselves, especially when things are hard or we feel like we’re not doing well. We think, "I should be better at this. This seems so easy for everyone else. I'm taking too long."

Whether we’re working through grief, trying to learn something new, or taking on a physical challenge, we can’t force things to go any faster than they can go, whether it's our body, mind, or heart.

Your pace is your pace.

So, remember to give yourself a little grace and run your race, your own way. No one else can run it like you can.

Sending love your way,
—Shel

P.S. I wrote a song called "No One's Pace But Your Own" a few years ago if you want a calm space to feel into this truth.