I had my first heart attack on Monday Feb. 3rd. 2003 at the age of 42. This turned out to be the biggest turning point in my life, but it took another 18 months for it to kick in. September of 2004 I started walking ( without any real goal in mind ) to better my health. It was February of 2005 that I heard about the Mothers Day 5-k and decided to make that my goal. I ran through 2005,6,7 going from one 5 or 10 k to the next with only the next race as my goal. I didnt keep track of what I was doing throughout those years and didnt set any long term or yearly goals at all. I was given a log book in 2008 by a client of mine and started charting my progress from that point ( still without a yearly goal in mind ).I had ran nearly 70 races with a few half and two full marathons by the end of 2012 still without a yearly goal in mind. October of 2011 I was introduced to trail running by Dan Young at the Oil Creek 100 race. I wanted to run the 50-k that next year but it was sold out. Dan asked me to be his pacer for the last 25 miles of his 100 mile race for 2012 which freaked me out totally if you know who Dan is and how he runs. I ran more that year than I had ran any other year up to that point but still hadnt set a yearly goal for myself. The next year I was able to get into the Oil Creek race but decided to challenge myself by signing up for the 100-k. This became my new redefined turning point because then is when I realized I needed to establish a long term goal (a yearly goal). In 2008 without having any real goal in mind I ran a total of 355.7 miles for the entire year.Both last year and this year I set my goal at 1200 miles or to average 100 miles a month. Last year I didnt reach that goal with only 1061.3 miles total for 2013. So far this year my mileage is 1313.6 with three days to go. The moral of the story is, whatever you want to do, ( really want to do) establish a long term goal, keep record of your progress and hold yourself accountable for reaching that goal. Now with that said, I did not complete my one main goal this year which was to run and finish the Oil Creek 100 mile trail run. This is my declaration and my goal for 2015. I will run AND finish the Oil Creek 100 mile and I will set my total mileage for 2015 at 1500 miles. By declaring this to you all I feel I will hold myself accountable to my goals because you all have supported me through so much over these years I dont want to let any of you down. Please come run with me, we can share some laughs together and you can hold me accountable.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 16:14:37 +0000