Re-evaluating Goals

Good morning folks!!  Happy Tuesday!

Last weekend, I ran the Fleet Feet Sports Tulsa Go Short, Go Long, Go Very Long 25k. This was my longest distance to date. I was counting it as a training run for my marathon. It was about 40 degrees when we started. I opted not to wear my hydration vest because I didn't want to get too warm. I wore a long sleeved tech shirt and a New Balance vest over it. I had plenty of nutrition and I had hubs stationed at the mile 6 water stop in case I needed a bail out plan or something. It was a beautiful morning. I ran with my friend Kelly. We chatted and listened to music. The first water stop was at the 5k mark. It seemed to take an eternity to get there and I was wishing that I had brought my own water. We continued down the west bank of the Tulsa Riverpark trails. We passed the 10k water stop. I got Nuun and water and an "I love you" from hubs. The Achilles was a bothering me a little bit but nothing I couldn't handle so we kept going. We were getting close to Turkey mountain and we discussed our strategy for the hills. We decided that we would do a run/walk up the hills and pick it up going back down 71st. We got to the parking lot at Turkey Mountain. I had to stop for the bathroom then we headed out. As we were running down 71st street, we both noticed a large bird and then we realized it was a eagle making lazy circles in the sky above us. It was so cool!!  We headed back north toward the finish and were in the home stretch. We passed the 13.1 mile mark. I became aware of every ache and pain in my body. My back was tight and hurting. The last 2 miles were not fun at all for me. We were nearing the 3 hour mark and all I could think was: if I'm running a marathon, I would have about 2 more hours to go" I just couldn't wrap my mind around that. And it was in that moment that I realized I was not having fun or enjoying myself at all. I didn't have any sense of excitement or accomplishment when I crossed that finish line, I was just relieved that it was over. It became clear to me that I had no desire to run a full 26.2 miles. I'm glad I realized it now and not in the middle of a marathon.


Still smiling....

Faking it till I make it!! 

I've given this decision a lot of thought. My goal for 2014 was to live outside of my comfort zone and to challenge myself to new things and one of those things was to run a marathon. But I think that some people are not meant to run long distances and I am one of those people. I'm running for fun and personal growth. I have decided to focus on half marathons instead. That is a distance that I enjoy. It's more comfortable for me but long enough that it's challenging for me. I've changed my registration for Little Rock, Arkansas to the half distance and I'm looking into the Dust Bowl series later in March. I've done half marathons in 6 states, Arkansas would be #7. I could do New Mexico and Colorado for #8 and #9.

I had a good but cold run with my Pathways group last night. It was about 18 degrees but felt like 9 with the wind chill. We still averaged an 11:20 pace on our 2.5 miles. I was surprised to see that 8 of my runners showed up to run in the cold. I'm really proud of them and I think that it's going to be a good session after all. Tonight is the TU track but I don't trust this Achilles completely just yet. I had a pain free run last night but I want to give it just a little more time before I tackle the track with them. Maybe next week.

My recent trips to the chiropractor have made it painfully obvious that I've gotten weak in my core. I was making good progress last summer and fall but then I slacked off and have back slid. Ah, thank goodness for muscle memory!!  I'm going to participate in a 30 day #corecommit challenge hosted by Ericka and hopefully I can regain what I lost. Today is day 2. The W.O.D. is this 10 minute abs from Fitness Blender. I watched the video and wrote everything down. I'm hoping to get this done at the work gym on my lunch break.

For goals to be successful, they have to be realistic and running a marathon is just not realistic for me. I've been having second thoughts about it since I had to pull back on my training due to this Achilles injury. I guess that all things happen for a reason. I'm not unhappy about my decision. I'm relieved actually. I'm happy with my training recently. I've built up miles and endurance. But I'm looking forward to having more time to cross train and hopefully improve my half marathon performance. I'm also looking forward to concentrating on running a half in all 50 states. Goals are good tools on the roadmap of life to help you get where you are going. There are going to be obstacles and you're going to have to figure out how to overcome them to get from point A to point B. That's what makes a goal successful....to figure out a way to keep going when the going gets tough!

Have a terrific day, y'all!

Tuesday out.......