Day 57: Goals

The purpose of a goal is to help you have something to reach for, something to shoot for, something . . . maybe . . . to look forward to. I have set many goals in my life; many of which I have achieved and many of which I have not.

Combine with my goal setting, my insatiable desire to learn, and you have got one busy woman on your hands!

Most recently I have been learning to run. Last fall I tried, but my shoes weren't right for my feet, which caused me terrible body pains all the time, so I gave up.

But alas, there is a runner who lives in my house. A persistent runner. A persuasive, persistent runner, who would not take "NO" for an answer from me until he was certain I had really given it a real try.

So for Christmas I got custom fit running shoes, running pants, gloves, a hat, and two long sleeve running shirts! (He is also adamant about wearing the proper clothes while running!) I mean really, there was NO WAY I was going to get out of learning how to run.

I started the first week in January and was only able to run about 30 seconds without struggling for air. Then I had to walk for about 2 minutes to recover! Gradually I was able to run 1 minute and then two minutes and then three minutes. And gradually I needed less and less and less time to recover.

Then, I joined a running group to train for a 5K race. I've been in this group for about 6 weeks now and today we had a distance trial because our first 5K is in two weeks! Up to this point the farthest I had run without stopping was 1.2 miles (a fact I was VERY proud of!)

So I set out this morning with a goal, a lofty goal of 2 miles, almost double the distance I had ever run at one time without stopping. Prior to my run, my running coach (AKA JACOB) gave me this advice:

- Don't look at your timer until you don't think you can take another step
- Pace yourself. Don't go faster than you should
- Don't let your head talk you into stopping sooner than your body needs to


I ran. And I ran. And I ran. I paced myself. I didn't look at my timer. I didn't listen to my head. I just ran. And about 20 minutes in, a guy came about behind me and said, "Hey, wasn't your goal two miles? Keep going. You're at 1.7 miles!" For some reason, you would think that would have been motivating, but it wasn't. All the sudden, I felt like my brain had convinced my body it was DONE.

"Come on CAROL!" I said to myself. "Run. Don't think. Just run. Slow down, catch your breath, and keep running."

32 minutes into the race, I looked at my timer and realized I had run 2.52 miles WITHOUT STOPPING. Woo Hoo!

All that to say, in two weeks, I will run a 5K. I won't run it fast, but I will run it, and I will run the whole thing . . . and I won't need oxygen. :)