There will always be someone faster, stronger, and fitter than you. No matter what your level.

There, now that that's out of the way--what do you have to worry about?

I was the slowest member of the varsity cross-country running and track teams at my university (top team in Canada). I gave every fibre of my being into training, but just didn't have the genetics for speed. Still, I felt so inadequate, like I wasn't trying hard enough. I could keep up, but just barely.

I only lasted one season. My body couldn't take training at peak capacity daily and my asthma worsened with stress. One day I just blacked out and couldn't move and realized then and there I had to take a break. I thought it would be a week. That was three years ago. My body still isn't quite right.

In recovering from varsity, I couldn't even wear a timer when I ran or I'd just get frustrated. It took two years for running to be fun again.

I used to think a 60-minute run a poor excuse for off-day training. Now I only wish I could run that long without a struggle. If I saw myself from my varsity days, I'd think, "wow, what an amazing athlete" even though at the time I was so rough on myself. I'd kill to have those legs back! But hey, I'll tell you what's more exciting than getting your period and boobs for the first time: getting them back after you've run them away!

Whatever fitness level you're striving for, remember--your 'fittest' isn't always your healthiest. Don't compare yourself to a standard you can never reach. Just accept that it's there, then compare yourself to yourself.

And oh, the asthma... it makes me so angry. It makes me angry that my body isn't fit enough to get oxygen into itself normally. I get so angry I just run harder and harder, and it gets worse and worse. I've tried inhalers, but I still came within inches of collapsing daily at track practice. I think it might be partially psychosomatic--my body needing a 'valid' excuse to stop.

Push yourself, and push yourself hard. It'll hurt, too, or else you're not doing it right. But don't -damage- yourself. I had a coach tell me (one year after varsity, when I started Modern Pentathlon training), as I limped more and more on an old injury with each lap of the track: "Stop. Don't think of right now--think of ten years from now. You want to be able to run. Don't come back until your injury gets better." He lost his best athlete on that advice--might as well have sent me out to pasture.

So you know what? As you're huffing and puffing up that hill, you're doing your body good. You're losing weight that holds you back. There's no doubt of that. You've got perspective of yourself now, yourself then, and yourself in the future. Don't lose it for goals that are unattainable. It'll only set you back further in the long run!