Today is Global Running Day – a time to celebrate runners everywhere and pledge to do what we love: To go for a run. I will be joining the hundreds of thousands of runners who will lace up our shoes today and cover some miles on our favorite paths and trails.

But is Global Running Day different than any other day?

If I’ve learned anything during my lifetime of running and my long distance running journey that began nearly 10 years ago, it’s this: Running gives us a chance to celebrate every single day, because it creates small, everyday victories of mental and physical strength that often bring out the best in us.

We don’t need a day to celebrate running; it has become part of our daily lives.

We don’t need a day to unite us; the sport unites us every time we go for a run. There’s perhaps no better way to meet people and develop deep relationships than by joining a running group or meeting up with a neighbor to log miles. Some of my greatest friends are people I’ve met training for a marathon.

We don’t need a day to remember how runners share more similarities than differences. It is the relativity of running that’s perhaps the most powerful aspect of our sport. I will never forget talking to a woman after spectating at a 10K race last year. It was a really hot race with terrible conditions for every runner. People dragged themselves across the finish line, most slower than they’d ever completed the distance. The runner I spoke to was a newer runner who ran a slower pace. She told me that she knew a race like this was really easy for me, because she perceived me to be an “experienced runner.” I assured her that no runner – from an Olympic marathoner to a middle-of-the-pack runner like me – would have thought that race was easy. I reminded her that no matter how fast or slow we are, we all experience the same feelings. We all line up at the same start line. We all experience the same fears and moments of self-doubt. We all have discomfort, mental anguish and physical pain when the miles get difficult. We all have to combat the challenges of Mother Nature. And when we all find a way to conquer a run or race, we all get the same exact medal. We are the same.

You see, running is relative. Some of us may run faster or slower than others, but we all go on the same exact journey. It may take longer for some of us to get there than others, but every runner experiences the same highs and lows, the same struggles and triumphs and the same personal victories.

Remembering that is what Global Running Day is about for me. Celebrate all you have accomplished in your running journey and get excited about all you have left to conquer. Celebrate all the runners you know who are doing amazing things and making you better. Celebrate all your friends and family members who support you on your journey – who have been there on the sideline at races or put up with your training schedule, moments of ravenous runner’s rage and early morning alarms. Celebrate the person you have become thanks to the way running has empowered you and made you stronger.

Today, I’m sending every runladylike.com runner and reader a huge high five and a friendly push forward to keep dreaming, to keep working and to keep finding joy in a sport that is as meaningful today as ever.

How are you celebrating Global Running Day today?