Trusting Myself to Not Look Back

There is so much more of the race to run

Photo by Vladyslav Tobolenko on Unsplash

There’s a lesson I learned early on in high school as a runner in a race: don’t look back.

It’s not going to help you because it’s going to make you nervous to see someone gaining ground on you. You should run your own race and not focus on what other people are doing.

It’s sound advice, but difficult to apply.

Looking back is a natural instinct, probably as an adaptation for survival. In a race, when placing well matters, you would want to see if people were catching you and gaining on you. I used to look back all the time in races, scared that I was going to be passed, sometimes scared that a teammate was going to pass me.

In my early days, I would look back more, especially when I was tired, and it would lead to even more catastrophizing. The more tired I was, the more I looked back. Because I was tired and dying, I responded adversely when I saw someone gaining on me by increasing my pace suddenly and tiring myself out more, leaving nothing for the finish.

I see races where professional, elite, and the best runners in the world look back all the time for their competition. At that level, it makes sense — these runners need to secure a place and position. Kenenisa Bekele, one of the best…