Goal Setting Part 1: Old Goals

Lately I find myself thinking an awful lot about my running goals--the old goals I've met, the goals I've had to change due to injury or circumstance, my goals for the near future and those giant goals that are really more like dreams. As my first season of TNT comes to an end and my first marathon approaches, this feels like a time for reflection.

Old Goals:

Growing up I loved to visit my Auntie Kim--in my early memories of her I remember thinking she couldn't be an aunt because she must be a teenager! She was always so much more fun than I believed possible for a grown up. One of the things I love about her is her energy and zest. Here's a perfect example: my first memory of her is of watching her workout on a treadmill or some other type of exercise machine while wearing a pair of bright sweat pants and a pink sweat band while singing along to "Love Shack". Over time she became an avid runner and I wanted to be one too.

The summer I was nine she took me on a few runs with her while we visited my grandparents in Hawaii. I remember thinking that running for such a long time was a lot harder than it looked. In fact, I probably didn't even make it 1/2 a mile before I stopped to walk, but I remember her giving me some great advice. She said when it gets difficult and you want to walk, slow down instead.

Growing up I spent a lot of time trying to become a runner. I didn't have a runner's body, but I secretly hoped I might get one if I kept running long enough (I'm still waiting for that one to happen!). Looking back, I did run often and had fun doing it but I never felt like a runner. Not while running to Briggs school and back for fun (wearing Converse, of all things!), not while on my high school cross country team (placing dead last in nearly every race), not even while running in the lonely rain in Tacoma.

While thinking back on this season and how far I've come I realized that I finally feel like a runner, a goal I've been working on for 16 years. I am going to run 20 miles this Sunday. I have one black toenail and another ready to fall off. I have run two half marathons. I wake up early every Sunday and run. For a few hours. No big deal.

I remember struggling to complete a 10 mile training run at the start of the season...last Sunday I ran 16 miles, the Sunday before that a half marathon, and the one before that 18. Wow. I've made so much progress in just a short amount of time that it kinda snuck up on me. Time to set some new goals...

Up next: Goal Setting Part 2: New Goals, Revised Goals