COFFEE TIMES
I Wrote Down My Goal
Six months from 5K to 50K?
I started a journal this year, and I like to put stickers in it. After booking some travel for the spring and summer and knowing I’d want to document it, I knew I’d need a daily habit of jotting things down. I’d started journals before for running but never kept up with them. I wondered if what was missing was stickers.
Maybe it was, because I’m keeping up with my journal. I like going through my sticker collection and deciding on just the right one.
It’s scary to write down a big goal
I’ve had this 50K goal in the back of my mind for over a year now. When I noticed this sticker last week, I wondered if I’m really ready to work on it now. My foot is feeling better as long as I keep up my exercise. My daughter is back to in-person school, giving me more free time during the day. Our dog’s behavior on a leash has improved to the point where I don’t dread walking or running with him anymore, vastly reducing the amount of pain and stress in my day. I have a weekly sports medicine massage set up. That sticker is in my journal now so I have to try.
When I first joined Medium last year and wanted to write about running, I had just put off my 50K goal. Yesterday I went back to look for those beginners’ 50K training plans and I found them uninspiring. I’d recently read about 50K plans that include more cross-training and decided to seek out those. I’ve been experimenting with more rowing and swimming lately, and starting to see a difference in my pain and energy levels, in a positive way. (I don’t swim; my daughter does and she taught me a few basics. My swimming goal at this point is to just keep moving in the water for a certain amount of time.)
Small goals to reach a larger one
With one of the plans in mind, one that starts with a 10-mile long run, I mapped out my next few weeks in my journal to get my long run up to 10 miles. I scheduled days for long runs, swimming, and grocery shopping around my Spanish lessons and my daughter’s swimming lessons for the next two weeks. After that, we have two big family hiking trips planned during my daughter’s spring break and I will fit in workouts where I can.
My goal is to be at that 10-mile run by Easter. My mini-goal to aid me in that is to eat breakfast before my 8 a.m. Spanish lesson so that I have the energy and time to go grocery shopping and dog walking immediately afterward. Waiting until after Spanish class to eat slows me down for the whole day.
It’s 7:48 a.m. and I’m almost finished eating breakfast. First item on that checklist done.
This goal might be crazy but at least I’m not alone:
We finally have some travel plans this year and I’ve been following the Travel Series:
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