Runners: You Need To Become Your Own Cheerleader Now

Caitlin McColl
Run With Intention
Published in
3 min readMar 27, 2024

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Photo by Alex McCarthy on Unsplash

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Are you a runner but none of your friends or family are?

Do you want to talk about your running adventures but no one you know understands it because they don’t run so they don’t get your enthusiasm and excitement (or panic or anxiety or other feelings) about a certain run or an upcoming race or maybe a new bit of running gear?

If so, I can relate!

None of my immediate family are runners — my husband, dad, brother, other relatives. And most of my friends aren’t. They just don’t understand!

My husband is supportive of my running, of course, which is great. He says ‘well done’ when I come back from 10km run (or 10k+). But beyond that, he can’t relate. And he doesn’t really understand anything about race anxiety or races in general. His question to me about races is: why do you do them if you aren’t going to win?! Insert eye roll here.

Or what about when you come back from a challenging run or maybe a distance you’ve never done before and your family/friends are just…meh. Because they don’t understand the significance of what you’ve accomplished? It can be deflating and demoralizing…

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Caitlin McColl
Run With Intention

Writer on mental health, grief & loss, mindfulness, running, life musings (+ fiction and poetry!). ❤️coffee & dogs. Vancouver 🇨🇦