You were the first physician I ever heard who had a blog. I found you on a podcast. Maybe MadFI? That was Feb 2018 and then I found this guy commenting on Financial Samurai. It was PoF.

Anyhow I simply wanted to say thanks. I really like your writing.

And I run without a watch. I started again this year. I walk, run or crawl and as long as I get out for the day. I am supremely happy. Haven’t kept score for a very long time.

Why not simply run because it feels good, run faster if you have the energy that day, take it easy if you don’t, run with people for socialization (not necessarily competition), or by yourself (for meditation)?
Personally, I have found this to be a much more enjoyable activity than needing to hit my miles or splits for a particular day and racing others on track workouts. I now avoid mile-markers and strava-like tracking as much as possible and instead head for the woods as much as possible. I come back refreshed (and exhausted) and thoroughly pleased with myself without a clue as to my mileage or who else out there might have run the same loop faster/slower.
Perhaps this mentality is just a reaction to my former competitive collegiate career in a different sport, but I believe it is growth, nonetheless.
For aspiring HappyPhilosophers like myself, this mentality can also be applied to academics: learning to enjoy the learning process, not the grade/ score.

I think measuring and tracking progress is useful. It allows us to re-calibrate and make adjustments. I used Strava quite a bit in the past, it is quite a useful and fun tool, although I would become a little distressed at times when someone would knock me out of the top 10 for a particular segment…that was the old me though 🙂

6:30 is fast, very nice.

Interestingly avoid social comparison dovetails with avoiding overthinking as a Happiness enhancement strategy, at least in the positive psychology world. Not overthinking as in this post or blogging in general, which is a deep thinking process, but more perseveration.

You say “ It just doesn’t make any rational sense to try and figure out how happy someone is….and try to run up the score”. Your reader comments that “comparison is the thief of joy”. We’re all saying the same thing – stop social comparison.

This is why I don’t have Facebook (except for my blog or watch much TV news.

I do love Strava. I keep an abundance mentality when it comes to running. There are infinite fast miles to go around. Seeing friends train and get faster, overcome injuries, make close friends in running groups, do destination races etc gives me a sense of community, a no brainer for happiness. I’m going for a 5K PR soon. Self-competition but I don’t feel bad when I see a 100 mile per week runner effortless pass me like a gazelle in the first mile. I just watch and admire.

Agreed. Race times are easy to measure, but many of the things we try to keep score are more amorphous, and at times it is unclear who we are even competing against.

My wife seems to be getting faster each year, but I have definitely slowed down. If I compared my performance to the past I would be continuously disappointed 🙂