If you’ve ever caught yourself obsessing over your watch stats or feeling like every run has to “count,” this episode of Your Running Coach with GMacSpurr is your wake-up call. Coach G unpacks how perfectionism can quietly sneak into your running mindset, often disguised as ambition, drive, and goal setting. She explains why tying your worth as a runner to numbers - pace, distance, or progress charts - can actually drain your joy and shift your focus away from what really matters: how you feel and how you’re growing.
Coach G reminds listeners that progress is bigger than pace, and that your watch can’t measure everything, like your emotional load, energy levels, or the courage it took to show up that day. You’ll learn how to identify what’s sucking your energy out of your runs, how to spot perfectionist tendencies when they creep in, and how to celebrate micro-wins instead of chasing constant improvement.
In this episode, Coach G also walks through practical strategies to reframe perfectionist thinking, sharing how she personally reset her mindset by ditching her watch for a few runs and reconnecting with her love for running. As always, she closes with powerful journal prompts designed to help you explore balance, progress, and self-compassion on your own running journey.
Links:
- Learn to run online with the support of the Zero to 5K Run Club
- Re-write your running story with The Runner Identity Project
- If you like to listen to music on your run, grab your new fav running playlist here
- If you are guessing what to eat before, during & after your run then look no further - grab this 3-part running fuel series.
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