Running seems like such a simple thing. Lace up shoes. Go out front door. Put one foot in front of the other. Return home after 3 to 22 miles. Eat something. Recover. Repeat.

But running is far from simple. That’s because it’s so much more than just forward physical movement. Once you start running long enough, it becomes part of your human emotions. It presents itself as joy, fear, triumph, disappointment, strength, sadness and every feeling in between. As runners, it’s easy to find ourselves defining our running success by our last week of training or our most recent race … especially in December as we look back over the year and ask the question: Was I successful?

Most of the time, I hear runners define their success by whether they had a PR (personal record or best time to date). I will freely admit that when I look back at 2013, many of the top running moments that stand out were my PRs in the 5K, 10K and half IRONMAN distance. When we have our best race, we’re overjoyed. When we don’t, we’re often disappointed. But is a PR what really defines our success?

I respectfully say, absolutely NOT!

Of course we always want to strive to be better. We naturally want to see constant improvements. But that isn’t the only factor to running success.

Running success is:

• Finishing a race – any race – when you feel like quitting. When you feel like all you want to do is walk and all your mojo has been sucked out of you. When you set aside your A goal, and your B goal and maybe even your C goal but decide to keep going (not when injured of course). Finishing any race is a victory. So many of you have shared your disappointment with me this year from races that didn’t go as you expected. Welcome to the wonderful world of running. Race day often throws us curve balls no matter how well prepared we are. You followed through with what you started. The hardest races are the greatest victories. If you finished, you were successful. If you chose to keep going when you could have quit, you were successful.
• Learning something from a bad race. Two athletes – one a first time marathon runner and the other a first-time half IRONMAN finisher – recently shared their stories with me about their fall races. Race day didn’t go as they’d hoped. One of them didn’t eat the right things during the race. The other didn’t pace herself like she’d planned and tried some new strategies on race day she hadn’t done during training. They were disappointed in their races. They knew the time on the clock didn’t reflect what they were really capable of. But, did they learn something from those races? Yes. That’s the only way we become better athletes. By our own experiences and mistakes. You were successful if you learned something from a bad race that will make you better during your next one.
• Being consistent and disciplined with your training. No matter what happens on race day, if you were consistent with your training and disciplined in doing your workouts and not making excuses, you were successful. When you train hard and stick with your plan without trying to cut corners or be lazy, you are successful. As Olympic runner Kara Goucher has said, “Acknowledge all of your small victories. They will eventually add up to something great.”
• Believing in yourself. I cannot begin to tell you how much confidence and a strong mental state can bring to your success. 2013 has been my year to start believing in myself and what I’m capable of. If you were able to believe in your abilities, push back self-doubt and self-imposed boundaries and have a positive mental outlook about yourself, you were successful.
• Trying your best. That’s all any of us can do. All we have to be is the best we are capable of being, not the best that anyone else is capable of. If you ran with heart and you gave it your all, you were successful.
• Doing something you’ve never done before. If you ran your first 5K or your first marathon, you were successful. Accomplishing something you’ve never done before, regardless of how fast you did it, is a huge win!
• Having fun. Whether you had a PR in every race distance this year or struggled to run anywhere near your best times, if you had fun, you were successful. The moment running becomes a chore or not enjoyable, the time on the clock doesn’t matter. Having fun and finding joy in the miles is always the goal.

I recently asked you to share the running or fitness accomplishment you were most proud of during 2013. I LOVED reading all your answers. (You can see them all in the comments section here.) Here were a few of my favorites that are about much more than just the time on the clock.

• “My biggest accomplishment in 2013 is that after months of time off I finally got back out there and started over again from the beginning.” ~Amber
• “My biggest accomplishment is staying so calm about being sidelined from two marathons that I planned on running three weeks apart. I realized through those injuries that running is a LIFE LONG sport and two races out are much better than ALL future races being off limits. In the past it would have tore me apart, this year it built me up.” ~Cori
• “My biggest running accomplishment this year was running my third half marathon – and my second since being diagnosed with MS.” ~Dee
• “I am most proud of running my very first half marathon at Silverstone race track in 2:21:59. Not even a year earlier I couldn’t run for a minute, let alone 13.1 miles!” ~Gemma
• “It was the hardest thing I have done, but I quit a marathon at mile 22.5 due to severe cramping. I was able to run by the following week. I am proud that I listened to the needs of my body.” ~Danielle
• “I’m most proud of turning a really bad marathon experience (Seattle Rock ‘n’ Roll in June) into fuel for the first to train smart for the Chicago Marathon, which resulted in a 9-minute PR and the sub-4:00 finish I’d been after!” ~Devon

Monday’s are typically reserved for sharing my weekly training recaps with you. Since I changed things up a little this week, I still wanted to report back on last week’s training. My key runs were: 1) a 4-mile run in Washington, DC in the snow at 8:25/mile pace while traveling for a work trip, 2) a treadmill speed session of 1,000 meters, 2,000 meters, 1,000 meters, 1,000 meters with a 400-meter recovery between each – the 1,000s were at 6:44/mile pace and the 2,000 was at 7:03 pace and 3) a painful 12-mile run on rolling hills at an average 8:40/mile pace. I didn’t get any of my planned cross training in this week. I have one month to go before my January half marathon and I’m turning things up. Next Monday I’ll be back with my regular training recap.

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How else would you define running success?