Why I am taking a break from Strava

It was 5:30 in the morning as I stepped outside Chata na Grúni. The sun was about to rise behind the ridge and four deers were still roaming the ski slope as I started climbing up on it. It was the run I had been anticipating for months. When, after 32 minutes and 470 vertical meters, I reached the ridge and began to run (yeah, Kilian Jornet would have run all the way up the 35% slope), I saw the first beams of sunlight.

This is how this run looks on Strava.

I cannot explain to anyone how beautiful this run was. Not via Strava, not via Instagram, not via Facebook. I was there, and they were not.

Why, then, was I obsessed with how my pictures are going to look on Instagram and how many kudos I am going to get on Strava? Fiddling with my watch and phone took me away from the moments I have prepared for months.

Measurement is great. I can train better, I can race better. Strava is also great. I get inspiration from fellow runners, who run more and faster than I do. Their encouraging comments mean so much more to me than any congratulation from someone who doesn’t run. But in the coming months I would like to focus on running for running’s sake. I will not measure myself, not take pictures and not post my achievements.

Just run.