The big Goal

I have been working really hard to follow the Run Less Run Faster plan.  I have some big plans for the Derby Marathon, and I am going to put this out there.  I want to kick butt and take names.  I want to leave it all out there.  I feel really strong.  I have a 20 miler to do tomorrow, and so far, I have been great at my goal paces.  I told Ryan the other day that I thought it would be really cool if I could place in my AG.  While the Derby miniMarathon is huge, the marathon portion isn't that big.  There were only around 2000 marathon finishers last year.  I looked at the race times, and they don't look impossible.  However, this isn't a great goal to have.  It isn't dependent on ME.  However, what I can do is run hard, leave it all out there, and not get passed towards the end, and do the passing.  I want to go big, and if I burn up, then I do.  If I don't, then I will have greatness.  I need to just embrace the suck.  All of these workouts are hard, and I just keep telling myself when they get hard that this will be what it feels like in the race.  Hard.  It is just a matter of enduring to the end.

I am putting this out there because this was in my email today, from Randy Step of Running Fit:

I believe it's best to pick an outrageous goal outside our comfort zone, just on the edge of not being realistic, perhaps just past what seems possible. From my experience, if you start out near the edge, or even out past it, your confidence in your choice will solidify as you put the plan in place and start the journey, at some point you will BELIEVE. To get to that point, you must take it seriously, I suggest you sign a contract with yourself not to back down, the magic will happen! Yes, you can enter and finish your first 5K, triathlon, half or full marathon, yes you can qualify for Boston, run a race every month for a year, run 50 miles, even run 100 miles! As you can tell I love running goals, but yes ... you can also get rich, be a rock star or cure a disease, if you live and breathe your goal

Make the goal, sign up and commit, tell the world what you plan to do ... And then, figure out how the heck you are going to do it!


I also finally ordered my SOAS race kit today.  I think I posted it already.  It is funny because it was so fun to actually go through and decide for myself a race outfit.  For the past 7 years, the majority of my racing attire was decided for me.  Last year, due to the fact that Team Aquaphor was late to get on the ground, I had the opportunity to select my own outfits for a couple races.  It was really nice to just wear whatever I wanted, however, my selections were definitely "budget minded".  I wore a clearance sports bra from zoot (which I LOVE by the way) for Boston and Muncie, as well as a TJ Maxx $12 sports bra for Ironman.  Seriously, how many triathletes finish their first Ironman race wearing clothes from TJ Maxx????  What kind of scrappy sponsored athlete am I?  I had full intentions of wearing my Team Aquaphor top for the run, but it was just too stinking hot.  So, this year, I decided that for my birthday, I wanted to pick out my own tri kit.  I passed up the opportunity to buy a new Landshark kit because it was expensive and I didn't love it.  No more buying team kits that are just OK.  No fancy logos, no team affiliations, just something girly that is me.  I can't wait for it to arrive.  I did pay full price for it, but selected the "free" shipping option, so it will take up to 2 weeks to arrive.  I wanted to save the $7 shipping, ha ha.  I'll save where I can still :) (picture via SOASracing.com)

At the same time I bought this crazy expensive tri kit, I also bought some deeply discounted Reebok running shoes.  What???  Reebok for running?  Yes I am a tester, and I fell in LOVE with the smoothflex shoes.  I had been running in a free pair they sent me as compensation, mostly because I was too cheap to replace my other shoes, and they worked.  It was time to replace them, and I tried on a few pairs of shoes at local stores, but nothing seemed as comfortable.  So I went online and tried to find the shoes I had to replace them.  Then I find out they come in BRIGHT PINK, in MY size, and were on SALE!!!  Plus, I can buy them through AAA to get even more of a discount.  Yes, I plan to run my kick butt Derby Marathon in clearance Reeboks, that are super cute and very comfortable.  They also match my CEP socks perfectly.  I am not sure what the weather will be like for the Derby race, so I am not sure that I will wear my tri kit for a marathon.  I mean, I would rather wear running shorts I think for 26.2, I think, and I also will want to wear my trusty pink CEPs, and I think that would be way to much pink, and not really match properly.  I don't know though.  We'll have to see if I pull a Ralphie's pink Easter Bunny disaster for race day or not.  I have less than 6 weeks to go!