I Need a New Goal

I ran a 10k on Thanksgiving, and I finished in under one hour. I hope to be faster someday, but for now that was an okay time.

I didn’t train to run a fast 10k. My ability to do that came as a result of my Marine Corps Marathon training—sort of a by-product of four and a half months of endurance preparation. With speed-specific workouts I’m pretty sure I could have done even better.

Marathon training gives my life purpose and focus. It helps me deal with other, tougher things because it provides a solid framework I can rely on. In the end, it improves my outlook, reduces stress, helps me manage my weight, and makes me feel better about life, in general. All good stuff.

Without a big goal in front of me, though, I feel kind of lost. It’s too easy now to get up early and NOT run because I haven’t put a new plan in place. I feel myself slipping from 6 days of exercise per week to 5 to 4 to 3 (last week). I’m afraid to gain my winter weight back, and stepping on the scale this morning confirmed that creep has begun.

And when I don’t exercise I simply don’t feel that great. Conversely, when I do get up and go I feel all the better for the rest of the day.

So I’m going to find and set a new goal. There’s an inaugural marathon in Gettysburg, PA, on May 1, that sounds about right. To get ready for that, I’m going to need some lucky breaks—not four months of snow like last year. But I think I’m going to look around a little bit, too, before I make that commitment. Maybe there’s a new place to visit in the spring that has a good course to run.

I’ll keep you posted.