When a run goes bad

Whenever I have a run that feels so terrible I actually have to cut it short, it always kind of scares me. Because it makes me question myself as a runner.

A bad run makes me feel bad

As I walk home from a run gone bad, I feel hungover and a bit moody. The same way a good run cheers me up, a run cut short makes me feel down. And I start questioning my running skills.

'Is this the beginning of the end of me as a runner?' 

I'll wonder dramatically.

It's like falling off a horse: you've got to get back on again

But I have learned something: a run going bad is like falling off a horse! You just have to get back on again as soon as possible.

So last Sunday, that's what I did. I ran the same route and distance I tried to run that abysmal Sunday morning, and this time I succeeded!

It wasn't my best run, nór my easiest run, but that didn't matter. I had broken the chain of a run gone bad, and restarted my chain of runs.

So I sigh with relief because I know: I'm still a runner.