This is fine. Getting yourself into shape to even be able to finish a 5k or better is an accomplishment in itself. There is no comparison to the trophies that every little leaguer gets for having parents drop them off at practice.

There are a handful of people who enter these events trying to win. They get money. For the rest of us, finishing represents a victory over the couch, that pint of ice cream, or general malaise towards bettering ourselves.

So I’ll take that finishing medal and be proud of it.

Besides, the same boomer generation who complains about participation trophies is the same generation who invented them.