Do you know the feeling when you beat one of your segment PRs on Strava by almost 3 minutes, at a significantly lower effort level than when you set your previous PR?

I’ve been seeing this happen a lot lately. Not always by 3 minutes, though. Not even always improving my times, sometimes it’s just the feeling that I can run 10% more of that hill, sometimes it’s seeing my Garmin autolap me at a pace I wasn’t expecting.

I was planning to write a short article about how I’ve noticed myself over-analysing my data, and it turned into a piece reflecting on my obsession with numbers and why I need to enjoy running more.

Why I need to stay grounded and enjoy running more

I started running in 2015 to deal with some health issues. I started trail running in 2017. I enjoyed trail running so much that I ran my first ultra in 2021. I then got a coach in 2023. We’ve been working together for almost 1,000 days now.

Over the 11 years that I’ve been running, I’ve seen fitness improve gradually. And it’s fun to see numbers and paces move in a positive direction. All the training is paying off.

But sometimes I catch myself enjoying it for the wrong reason. I can’t always put my finger on it, but I’ve been asking myself: What’s the point? Who cares whether or not I’ll run Quicksilver 100k in 12 hours or 14 hours or 16 hours? Who cares that I won the inaugural Napa Lapa 3 hour? Who even knows what the Napa Lapa is?

I’m a little bit type A. I have spreadsheets upon spreadsheets on nutrition and timing and lately I’ve even been vibe-coding tools to better plan my races. You don’t even want to know how many conversations I’ve had with Gemini, ChatGPT, Copilot, and Grok about fitness and nutrition.

Numbers make running manageable. And I’ll admit, you need numbers. If you’re planning to run for a long time, knowing how you’re going to fuel yourself is helpful. Knowing how fast you’ll powerhike a segment is helpful to plan nutrition and crew times.

If you’re a little like me, you might have felt a similar tension in the balance between the joy of running on trails with friends versus chasing a number on Strava.

But numbers aren’t the goal. Numbers aren’t why I enjoy trail running. They make my mind happy, and they make my type-A competitive personality interested in the challenge; but they don’t matter. What matters is going out and having fun. What matters is running with friends. What matters is cheering on runners as they cross the finish line.

That’s not to say that I will stop caring about numbers and I will stop caring about improvements. I will still train, I will still build spreadsheets, and I will still aim to get the most out of myself on race day.

What I do want to say, however, and most of all to myself, is to enjoy the running itself. Screw the structured long run intervals, find a fun route and see if you can squeeze in some quality work here or there. Go run with friends on a Sunday, and maybe even skip a workout on Saturday to go run with friends.

Let running be fun. The numbers will take care of themselves.