As a runner one thing that helps me stay motivated and get the training I need to enjoy the races I want to run is setting goals. The goal could be the race itself that I want to run or it could revolve around some other aspect of running. Goals can be time related, distance related, or taking on another specific challenge.
After running multiple half marathons in 2016 I found that the half marathon distance is a a distance I like for road races. It is the perfect amount of challenging yet holding the possibility of improvement. I decided both training for the races as well as running them. I decided that I wanted to be able to run a half marathon whenever I saw a race that looked fun. I didn’t want to have to look far off into the future and plan and make sure I had time to train for a half marathon.
I just want to see a fun event and jump on it and do it. This might sound a little crazy from some perspectives. But it seemed perfectly reasonable to me. I enjoy running half marathons. I want to be able to run any half marathon that sounds fun if I want to run it. I want to be ready for any opportunity that may arise.
So to this end I decided that since I had trained for a half marathon the past two years in a row now as my goal race I wanted to be at the point where I didn’t have to “train” just to be able to run the half marathon. I wanted to be in good enough running shape to be able to run the half marathon distance whenever. I may not be able to run it to the best of my ability but I wanted to be to the point where I could run the distance without suffering at any time.
I decided I wanted to commit to running a half marathon distance at least once every month for all of 2017. That way My legs would build the muscle memory of that distance. My mind and my body would know how to run that race. I would fully know what to expect from that distance. I figured this would keep me prepared for any half marathon that I should decide I wanted to do. This lead me to mapping out a nearly half marathon distance run that I cold do from my house in a loop fashion that would include over 1,200 feet of elevation gain. I never thought I would be doing anything like that.
The toughest part of this goal came in May. I had been enjoying my normal running routine and went out for a planned 13.1 mile run with a friend and the run just wasn’t going well. I was exhausted and tired and slow. I eventually had to call it quits at 11 miles. It was a huge downer. My friend knew I was bummed about not getting to my goal distance and encouraged my to shake it off. Telling me that we all have bad days. Days when our runs don’t go as we would like, and that is true. But I still felt down about that run. I had this goal and now I wasn’t going to reach it. I never reached my goal of a half marathon distance run for May.
I could have let that stop me. I could have given up on my goal of running half marathon distance runs and never run another one after that. Or I could have run long runs less frequently, But I didn’t I continued to run half marathon distance runs. I ran with friends or I ran solo, but I ran. I kept reaching for that goal even though technically I still wouldn’t reach it. But I would still get 99.9% of the benefit of trying to attain that goal. There is more to setting a goal than just saying you achieved that specific thing.
I managed to keep up my motivation through the month of October. Other than the one month I didn’t run a half marathon distance run I did successfully run a half marathon distance every other month. In October I actually ran at least 13.1 miles three times and that included the hardest run I have run to date, a 25k trail run with over 4000 ft of elevation. So don’t let one minor hiccup in achieving your goals create a real setback in what you are trying to achieve. You can still achieve a great deal without actually meeting the exact definition of what your goal was.
Reaching for your goals helps you feel better. It provides motivation. It provides the fodder that powers us on to bigger and better things. Set goals. Reach for them. Achieve them. And most importantly of all keep striving for them despite setbacks. You will be glad you did.
