Goals to reach goals

Now that it's official, I can finally share with you what I've been excited about for months: if God allows it, I will be running my first marathon in January. Kat and I registered for the Disney Marathon a couple of days ago, and training begins in August.

In order to prep myself for training, I thought it would be beneficial to sit down and do some goal setting. I used to hate when my coaches would require us to write down our goals for the season. I thought it was a waste of time; after all, I know what I expect of myself. What does it matter to anyone else? However, being on my own (running wise) for almost a year now, I've come to realize that writing out those goals for other people to read and know served as a form of accountability. When others know what your ambitions, dreams, expectations are, they can provide the encouragement you need to reach them. Furthermore, it never hurts to put your goals on paper, sort of like signing a lease--through this act, you are declaring your commitment to follow through with whatever you have set out to accomplish.

So here is my list of goals, which will probably and hopefully grow throughout the next six months:

1. Discipline myself by getting up early enough to complete a quality workout. The heat and sun serve as mental barriers, so I must strive to overcome these obstacles, even if that means taking the longer road around them.
2. Hydrate. "Hydration, hydration, hydration," is what my college coach always preached. Typically, I let my body decide when it's lacking hydration, nutrients, vitamins, electrolytes, and so forth. But I could definitely drink more water in order to prevent dehydration, not just to cure it.
3. Keep my legs healthy. As I've mentioned before, shin splints have haunted my running dreams since the very beginning. And since senior year of high school, I have been plagued with various minor, nagging injuries that could have been prevented if I had only taken better care of myself. In order to save my legs, I will need to stretch often, replace my running shoes before they start causing problems, and allow my body time to rest between workouts. This may also mean taking two to three days off at a time (which is no problem for me).
4. Develop an efficient workout routine. With a marathon in sight, one cannot, or at least should not, simply put on miles. Just like in every other sport, running often relies on strategic planning. Long runs, speed workouts, recovery runs, cross training, rest. A workout schedule will have to be determined in order to maintain effectiveness.

I can't wait to begin training, but in the meantime, my main goal is to develop a firm base while keeping my legs healthy. This means slowly building mileage and giving myself plenty of time to recover. As August draws near, I will be researching marathon guides and developing my own training manual. I'll be sure to post my schedule once it is developed.

I hope I can count on all of my readers to send encouragement from time to time. Thanks for reading.