Does anyone else find that whilst they absolutely love running, have certain goals in mind and think that meeting those goals will be brilliant, when it actually happens there is no real sense of accomplishment?

I first noticed it when I did my first marathon. In fairness, I didn't train as well as I could have and walked a good 3rd of it, but I still completed a marathon. However, I felt pretty much nothing after it. I thought maybe it was because I didn't do as well as I would have liked.

But now it's happened again. Since the first lockdowns happened my pace has gotten way quicker than I ever imagined it would be. This is mostly because I've had to run our local very hilly roads, whereas I always stuck to flats before. I don't do any kind of speed work or anything.

My 5k goal PB was always about 26:30-27 minutes. It took me years to even get under 30, so I figured that would be a great goal, but also thought it would be a long time before I ever got there. But last weekend I did the local Parkrun in 24:28. I time I never imagined I would be capable of. I also fully believe I'll be able to get into the 23's soon. But here we are again, with no real sense of accomplishment or satisfaction.

I still love running, I still have the motivation to get out there and push myself and see what I can achieve. But there's no pride or "happy feelings" when I tick off a goal.