THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A GOOD RUN AND A BAD RUN
Heat. Hills. Humidity.
Not exactly the three things most runners would choose for a run.
Yet every year in early May, runners across Mobile descend on the Dollar General parking lot for the first Holla at the Dolla group run of the season. What follows is a long stretch down Hillcrest Road filled with rolling hills during the hottest and stickiest months of the year. Dare I say moist.
Paces are slower, heart rates are higher, and everyone is drenched in sweat. But, somehow, these end up being some of the best runs of the year.
Which got me thinking about how runners label their runs.
LABELS
Runners love to label runs.
Easy, long, intervals, tempo, junk miles, shake out. Every run has its place but sometimes we overthink these way too much.
At the same time, we can oversimplify them into two ends of the spectrum: a good run or a bad run. Or as Robert Plant almost definitely sang, “good runs, bad runs, you know I’ve had my share.”
But could it be even simpler than that?
A GOOD RUN
Some days it feels like everything clicks.
Easy run, stayed in Zone 2. Speed day, hit every pace. Long run that somehow feels effortless.
Low humidity. Wind at your back. Your watch is happy. Your breathing settles in. For once, running feels simple.
A good run is one you can’t wait to upload to Strava. Impatiently waiting for kudos and the ‘well done’s’ to start rolling in.
Those runs are amazing, but for some reason we tend to move past them quickly. We make room for the bad runs instead.
A BAD RUN
If you’ve experienced the endorphins of a good run, then you’ve probably experienced the opposite too.
Heart rate soaring. Can’t hold pace. Legs feel like bricks before the first mile is over. The sun beating down while the humidity slowly suffocates you.
The run you want to forget. The one you don’t mention to anyone.
Bad runs have a way of sticking with you longer than good ones.
They make you question your fitness, your training, sometimes even yourself. How am I supposed to handle race day if I can barely handle this today?
A bad run hurts you more mentally than physically. But even then, was it actually a bad run?
IT'S SIMPLER THAN THAT
The more time I spend stacking miles, the more I realize most runs are probably good runs.
Not because every run feels amazing. Most don’t.
Some feel heavy from the start. Some turn into mental battles. Some feel harder than they should for absolutely no reason.
The hardest part is usually showing up. Lacing up your shoes when you’re tired, busy, stressed, or just not feeling it. After that, it’s just a run.
Missed paces. High heart rate. Heavy legs. None of it really changes what the run was.
You still got out the door and showed up. And that is what matters most, in both running and life.
