Goals

We Love goals when we achieve them, and hate them when we don't. They are our biggest competition. At times we find ourselves alone out on the race course with no one in sight, your mind is wandering and your pace is dropping. Its at this point your goals are putting in a surge and leaving you behind.

I love goals because they give you something to strive for when no one is around. You can set goals on a daily basis to push and prod you to a faster workout. You will always remember the goals you set in your head, and will always know when you are cutting yourself short to achieving these goals.

In December of 08 I sat down and wrote out many long term goals and goals for the 09 season. At the time they seemed a tad unrealistic, but with hard work achievable. I did not tell many people these goals because I felt that others might find them to be a tad unrealistic. I think its ok to be ambitious with your goals. We all have crazy goals that we keep way in the back of our minds, aspirations that others would laugh at us if we told them, so we set those aside and set smaller goals because we are afraid. It is the person who isn't afraid to set crazy goals that will see the biggest results. You can't be afraid of failure.

Of my goals that I set for my 09 season I have achieved almost all of them. Meeting these goals feels amazing, better than any result others see on paper. The cool thing is only you know if you have achieved your goals. That ambition that others thought you might be a little crazy for going after, doesn't seem so crazy any more. In fact I only have 2 goals left that I want to achieve this year, and of the two I think one will follow the other. Its funny, that the goal that I thought would be the easiest to achieve this year, has become one of the hardest.

What is this goal? Its the goal I set for running this year. Specifically the time I want to run in a half Iron triathlon. At Boise I had what one would call, way too much confidence towards my goal. I started the run and thought pssch no problem. This race was a good learner for me because I definitely got K.O.'d by my goal. My next shot at this Goal was the Chelan man half Iron, but after the last encounter with my goal I was running a little bit scared. So this Sunday at Lake Stevens I have my next shot to beat my goal. I am excited to go after it, and I will be racing this goal more so than I will be racing the competition. Goals are always ready to race, and this Sunday I hope I am too.