I went for a run today. I headed out thinking that I would run 16km or 20km.

It would depend on how I felt.

After the first hour, I decided that I would go for the 20km distance.

In total, it took me three hours to run 20km. That’s an average of 9 minutes per kilometer.

I’m not a fast runner. And I wasn’t trying to run fast, either.

I had decided that it was going to be a slow run.

And even though I had decided to do a slow run, I still imagined people telling me I was a slow runner.

Which is true.

But in my mind, I got defensive. With this imaginary commentator.

I responded with, “I’m not running a race. I’m running a distance.”

My goal for today wasn’t to finish my run within a specific time.

My goal was to run 20 kilometers.

It made me think about how we often forget our goals. And get waylaid by the expectations of others.

Or how someone can try to diminish your accomplishments. By comparing them to someone else who did it faster. Or better. Or bigger. Or whatever.

Unless you are in a race, you are only ever competing with yourself.

And you should only compare your results to your previous results.

Ignore the armchair critics. Especially the imaginary ones!