Daring to Dream.....????
Throughout life, many of us have goals we set for ourselves. We use these goals to get use through our daily life, and as a placesetter to give us a reason to work hard. But once these goals are reached, we find ourselves at a crossroad--now what? We either accept the accomplishment, or inadvertently set a new goal...and the entire cycle begins again.
A few years ago, my goal in the running world was reaching a distance past a 5K. Then it was a half-marathon. Then one day I held my breath, closed my eyes, and hit "submit", and suddenly my new goal was finishing a marathon.
Now I've done a marathon, and I'm looking for a new goal. I didn't realize I was, necessarily...I was content with the idea of running other marathons and leaving it at that. Then in some random conversation, the idea of Boston came up, which led me to checking qualifying times...
The qualifying time for my age group is 3 hours and 40 minutes. That's pretty fast.
But then somewhere in me I wonder if I can do it. I think I can never run that fast...then I think once upon a time I thought I could never run that far...so can I? Can I run that fast and at some point meet the qualifying time for Boston and actually earn a spot, something I never, ever thought I would be able to do?
I find myself wondering if this is a plausible goal for me...if this is something I can do and accomplish. When Ted and I ran Philly last year, we finished in 5:07 and change. Is it reasonable for someone to shave an hour and a half off their time?
The idea of qualifying for Boston is amazing for me, and as much as I think it's outrageous, I can't imagine not being able to do it, either...it's not that outrageous...is it?
posted by Maggie Mae @ 4:31 PM
3 Comments:
Nothing is ever impossible! If you dont want to go for bigger distances (like an ultramarathon) or multiple feats (like an ironman) ... then the obvious choice is to work on your time. I think its alot easier to get faster in a long run than a short run (ex: shaving time of a 5K is much harder than doing the same for a 10K). Set your goals, work towards them one step at a time ... and you can do it! Just make mini goals along the way to help you get there ;)
I don't think it's an outrageous goal at all. It may seem like that now, before all the hard effort and sacrifice of time that is put into training. But after you've done the hard work I think you'll find that you've improved not only your health and speed, but your mind too. The question isn't "Can I", it's "Will I" so go for it and don't look back ;)
Geesh, sorry for all the comments, but I'm reading all your posts! That's my qualifying time for Boston, too. Just finished Philly in 3:51 and I'm not sure I could have shaved another 11 minutes off of that. We'll just have to wait and see what happens next year.
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