The consensus across pop psychology and health articles on the Internet is that running is good for your mental health. Dr. Poonam Sachdev says that running produces endorphins and serotonin, which improves mood, and that regular running at a easy to moderate effort can improve your mental health and memory.
I am a marathon runner who has qualified for the Boston Marathon in 2018, 2021, 2022, and 2023. I have personal records of 74 minutes in a half marathon and 2:39 in the marathon. But I have run track and cross country since I was twelve years old, in high school and college. I have a personal record of 15:36 in the 5k and I ran a 4:36 in the mile.
I don’t list my resume of running personal records to show how good I am. I list them because I have run times that any recreational runner or marathoner would love to have, and in my head, I still think I suck and have only achieved a fraction of my potential. When I list my running “accomplishments,” I feel like a failure.
For most of my life, I have not run because it was good for my mental health. I didn’t always run because it was fun. For most of my life, I ran because I wanted to be good. I wanted to win. A personal record of running faster than I ever had…
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This post was previously published on Invisible Illness.
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