If your best running is behind you, what still counts?

What if you never run that time again?

It’s an awkward question. Running gives us plenty of language for the next goal, the comeback, and the personal best still to come. We’re less comfortable talking about the possibility that a particular best performance might stay in the past.

I’ve had to think about that myself. There was a period when running gave me very visible evidence of change. Distances I hadn’t imagined completing. Finish lines I hadn’t expected to reach. Then came health issues, setbacks, and long pauses, and the picture became much less straightforward.

I found myself wondering what happened to my running story if the numbers stopped improving.

You can miss what you could do

An old result can hold a lot. The training that led to it, the people around you, the feeling of discovering something you could do. It’s understandable to miss that period, including the ease or confidence you remember.

I don’t think we need to rush past that with a cheerful promise that the best is always ahead. We don’t know. Sometimes a result remains the fastest or furthest thing a person ever does.

That doesn’t make the memory less yours.

Nor does every later walk need to be part of a project to recover it. You can enjoy something now without asking it to beat something from years ago.

Give the present a fair hearing

The question I find more useful is what I still want from running, or from being around it.

There may be a route I’d like to visit, company I enjoy, or the pleasure of making room for movement. There may still be a goal I want to work towards. The answer can change, and it doesn’t have to sound impressive when I explain it.

That matters because it’s easy to replace one test with another. If pace no longer proves my worth, perhaps relentless consistency will? Perhaps I must become wonderfully wise about the whole thing?

That sounds like quite a lot of extra work for someone who wanted a walk.

We can let an activity be part of life without requiring it to demonstrate our character every week.

The next chapter can be smaller

If a previous ambition no longer fits, When the goal changes can help with the practical decisions. You might choose a different goal, keep something you enjoy, or leave a gap for a while.

You’re also allowed to finish with an activity. Remaining a runner forever isn’t an obligation you acquired by entering an event.

I can be proud of what I did and uncertain about what comes next. Both can be true on the same afternoon. An old personal best can stay on the record while I decide what would make the next walk worth taking.