Running Goals

         Ever since I started running again in 2013 I have been become real good at setting realistic goals for myself in terms of running. After completing an 8K race in 2013 I set my goals to the half marathon and soon, I had signed up for a 50K in West Virginia. Granted, moving from a half marathon distance to a 50K distance with a crazy elevation is a bit odd, it worked for me. I then went on to running 7 marathons and even qualifying as a Marathon Maniac. 

        But where are my goals now? It all depends on what happens in my next 3 races. I have the Marine Corps in two weeks, the Rehoboth Beach Marathon in December and my first 50 miler in March. My short term goals are obviously to finish all three races. Speed is not really part of my goals for these coming months, but I would like to work on time at some point in the future. I can't work on my speed goals now for to work on speed it would require me working on my eating habits and while training for marathons and a 50 miler it would be tough to simultaneously work on my weight and restricting calories and such. Yet, I would like to move off running after March 2018 and focus primarily on weight training, some running and mainly focusing on the quality of my food intake. 

         But I do have another goal brewing and it's the one of going back to the West Virginia Trilogy in the fall of 2018 and beating my time from the last time I did a 50K there. Now, THAT would be a worthwhile goal. When I first ran it I did it within second of the cutoff go 10 hours. It has rained that day and I had fallen several times and the back of my thigh was in extreme pain, but I finished. The RD of the race later wrote me a hand-written note and said he's hope to see me the next year and I have never gone back to get my vengeance on that mountain. So as this dream of going back to the crazy mountains brews I dream of finding new exciting adventures far and wide. When I go to Tennessee in March to run my 50 miler that would be the first time I would leave my little family and be away from them for so long, three days! This trip is like getting my toes wet and seeing how it goes, trying out something new. I have a strong feeling I am going to love it. 
             
             But I cannot even allow myself to think that far ahead yet. First, the marathons this fall, then the race in March and then, ever so slowly open the door to the possibility of going back to the mountains to beat my time. Hills are not my favorite thing either. Yet, exploring new aspects of my running is what makes running worth while. What are your running goals?

 

 

          

Do what you fear most....

         The Wheel of Fortune is constantly spinning, always something new in the horizon, we never get a rest from fearing what may lie around the corner. When things are going well in our lives, we always fear what may happen next to ruin our current state of peace. When things are bad, we fear this stage may last long and cause continuous discomfort and pain. There is a way out of this constant fear of 'what may come next' and it's found in confronting it head-on. 

     Planning for races, long races especially, brings such a sense of awe and fear that it almost takes my breath away every time I think about the enormity of the challenge. I just signed up for my first 50 miler and I have NO idea how I will ever get this done. I know I can, with proper training and the proper mental game all is possible, yet, still, I cannot fathom YET all it would take to cross that line; it's a terrifying thought. 

      One interesting thing about fear though is that once you have faced the fear and defeated it, you know it is possible and no matter how big the next challenge is you now know it is possible to defeat fear. My daughter did gymnastics for some time and when it came time to do her first ever performance in front of a crowd she froze. She told me in very dramatic fashion that she could not, would not, do it. I told her that no matter what she needed to do it, that only in seeing it through would she ever feel right and that if she caved now she would forever cave at all challenges. Sure enough she did it and from that challenge forward she knew the fear was a mere facade; she knew from that day forward now to believe the fear, but to face it and only in facing it, would the anxiety surrounding it go away.