Don’t Worry About the Pace: Focus on the Terrain

April 7, 2025

When was the last time you compared your performance to someone else?

Not just in fitness, but in life. Your output at work. Your career trajectory. The growth of your business. Your lifestyle, even.

How often do you catch yourself measuring your results against someone else’s, thinking you’re behind, or not quite there yet?

Here’s a tough truth, and one I’ve had to learn the hard way:

“Comparison is the thief of joy.” —Theodore Roosevelt

Let me take you to a recent morning.

I’d just wrapped up a standard run, nothing too fancy. I stopped the clock, looked at my time… and instantly felt disappointed. My pace was off. Way off.

It didn’t come as a total shock, my cadence felt choppy from the start, I was out of rhythm, legs heavier than usual.

So what did I do next? Like many of us tend to do… I looked at the stats of my running group.

Bad move.

That didn’t help my self-esteem at all. If anything, it deepened the frustration.

But here’s what I reminded myself:

• It was my fifth run in four days

• I’d completed a half marathon earlier that same week

• Life was… lifing (as we say)

• And oh, by the way, I’d just tackled 407ft of elevation

Context matters. Terrain matters.

Whether it’s fitness, business, or personal growth, we’re all on different journeys. We may be navigating the same ocean, but our vessels are not the same. We might be running the same road, but our destinations differ.

Some of us are sprinting to the finish line. Others are here to take in the scenery. And many of us are simply doing our best to stay moving forward while juggling real life in the background.

So here’s what I want to share with you:

Stop obsessing over your pace. Zoom out. Look at the terrain you’ve already overcome. Acknowledge the load you’re carrying and the progress you’ve made, regardless of the numbers.

Your journey is valid.

Experience, resources, personal challenges, these all play a part in our individual outcomes. Don’t rob yourself of joy by trying to match someone else’s highlight reel.

Give yourself grace.

You’re doing better than you think.