Law of the Playground

One of the ‘benefits’ of playing sport as a child is that you find your place in the pecking order pretty quickly. That place, often found at a very young age, is one that sticks with you right the way through childhood, often resulting in many (myself included) actively avoid sport at all costs until later life.

Discovering the joys of running as an adult, I was heartened by that fact that for most it was all about personal effort and bettering oneself. Instead of worrying how Tom, Dick or Harry were doing in a particular race I could concentrate on my own performance and see the improvements (or not at the case may be). Often it is the relaxation and health-related benefits that are at the forefront of the participants mind when engaging with sport as a grownup. Coupled with the social aspect of participating with other people who also share your interest at a club, things can be pretty rosy. Of course, at most clubs (but not all) there will also be a pecking order based on ability, but it is rarely spoken of and certainly won’t be the primary driver pushing everyone forward.

Welcome, Strava. On first glance, an innocuous little program for your smartphone and PC that singlehandedly manages to turn back the clock to those school days. If you’ve not come across Strava, it’s an app that tracks your performance over a particular run or cycle and compares it with others who’ve tackled the same route. So you may find yourself with the fastest loop round a park, or up a hill.

Yet again in modern life, we’re being fed that you’ve got to be the best at everything, Win or Die Trying if you like. Rather than enjoying sport for the pleasure of the activity, you get instant notification (even on the run) that you were the fastest on a particular section, or someone has just taken your record. 

I really react against this; it’s not why I took up sport. Now, I can be competitive as the next person, but that doesn’t mean I want to be judged on every single run I do. Can we have something in our lives that isn’t a battle with others to see who is best?

I’m sorry Strava, you can keep your stats. I used you once and turned you off.

I’m just off out for a nice slow recovery run*, and I’ll still feel like King of the Mountain.

*Actually, I ‘m just about to head off for a 5K Race and PB Attempt, but you get the point