Gooooooaaaaaaal(s)!!

So I started a run streak on Thanksgiving Day last year. My intent was simply to keep off extra pounds from the holidays. Frankly keeping off pounds during the holidays is a bit easier for me (aside from beer) as I have an allergy to wheat and/or gluten. I have limited ability to consume anything with either of the aforementioned ingredients so pastries, cookies, dinner rolls...all the good stuff, kinda off the list for me. What it's turned into is something I never anticipated.

The streak helped me lose about 35 pounds and take my mile per minute times to places I've never seen, even in high school. I've also changed mentally, I'm stronger, more determined and So much more driven. I am constantly setting and reviewing my goals. Now, this is much more related to running at the moment than anything else, but I'm working on that.

To that end, I wanted to put out a list of my goals. Now, keep in mind that in recent years, I stopped making formal New Years resolutions and effectively dissolved my bucket list (things to do before you die). Since I'm not planning on dying, the bucket list became irrelevant. New Years resolutions are pretty silly since you shouldn't set goals once a year. I understand why it's done and the reality is that in my head, I do have things I want to do in the next year.  Last year around September/October, I decided to start my 'resolutions'. Now I have, in my mind, a lot of things I want to do, just at some point, not necessarily 'before I die'.

Reaching goals has always been a challenge, I suppose it should never be easy right? Really it's about following through with trying to achieve the goal. I've felt like I didn't really achieve much so far in life, which really isn't true. From the perspective of where I started, I've done fantastically well. Running provides real, tangible goals, both long term and short term. Two of my great passions now are craft beer and home brewing, along with running. Last year, one of my primary goals was to drink 500 unique beers in a year. Being something of an overachiever in this department, I made the goal with about 3 weeks to spare. In what could be considered collateral damage, I took down nearly 700 non-uniques along with the other 500 (yep, that's about 1200 beers in a year). A 'Unique' beer is the first time you've had one brand/style, 'non-unique' constitutes everything after that first brand/style. At any rate, it was an awesome year, a great goal, and I was pretty stoked to achieve it. It was done about 3 weeks after I started my run streak, and so I started really considering what I could do with my running habit.

After a lot of thought over the last several months, here is a list of running goals. These goals have been contemplated over the months, some decided on even before I started the run streak. Let me put an asterisk by the goals that I thought were totally unrealistic, if I used the word impossible with any regularity (or validity) I'd probably use it for those goals. I now consider them very realistic and am driving hard towards achieving them.

365+ consecutive days running at least 2 miles
18 minute 5k
* sub 40 minute 10k
* 1:30:00 half marathon
* 3 hour marathon (qualify for boston)
progressively PR each race I do during the year
run without injury
reach goal weight and still be healthy (170lbs)
raise cause awareness
promote running and good health

One goal I didn't start out with was influencing or inspiring others to get healthy, whether it's running, walking, working out or just getting out more to exercise in any way. Though I didn't have that goal, within my social media circles and primarily with people I know in real life, I've been 'spreading the health'. I wondered if people noticed my daily postings via mobile phone of my runs. I actually figured people were pressing the ignore button on them. Turns out that some people are listening, reading, and taking action. This is awesome. As much as my goals are about me, my health and mentality, it is becoming a way to be a positive influence with people I know. I'd like my blog to spread this even further, hopefully with coherent, relevant and relatable writing that people can read and take away something positive for themselves and the ones they love.

Probably the main reason I didn't start out with a goal of influencing people to get out and run, or get exercise and get healthy, was because I hate being preached to.  In fact, I may well do the opposite.  Tell me to post something as my status on Facebook, guilt me into thinking if I don't, I'm not a good person. The result for me is usually thinking to myself 'ok, I won't post a snarky comment, I won't reciprocate with a snarky status update'. To me, social media and Facebook in particular, is not a podium for me to have people

follow my instructions or believe in my cause. I know that's what a LOT of people use it for and I deal with it. It is a rare day if I post a political statement, a view on religion or an aggressive request to follow or give to a cause. Is it a great vehicle for this? Of course! Remember the old 'phone tree' information share? You call 10 of your friends, they call 10 of theirs...bam, all the sudden you have HUNDREDS of people to share with. Social media is this on steroids. Use it how you will, I choose to use it to share the fun things I'm doing, usually happy things. But I digress.

The point is, with my passive postings, people have a choice to be influenced or not. They seem to be choosing, more and more, to be positively influenced. Is it a goal now? I wouldn't say that exactly. I'd like to see it grow on it's own. It's reciprocal too, I love seeing other people's postings on Facebook and Twitter, it's encouraging to me. It's a great circle to be floating around in.

Do you run? Should you run? If you do, why are you running? If not, why not? What are your goals for running? Why are they your goals? In the industry I work in, and really any industry, the old SMART goal is tried and true, and it works. If you don't know it, look it up.

I'm just trying to run smart :)