Jacksonville Marathon

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The Boston Marathon!

I think goals are important when trying to keep motivated to run each day.  Let’s face it, running could be boring if you have no motivation or goals.  Losing weight is a good goal.  Becoming healthier overall and doing what you can to live a long life for your spouse and kids are great goals.

Personally, I like to set goals for my races that seem “out there”.  By doing so, I have continually amazed myself after each race I’ve run.  For instance, my new goal for my next 5K in May is to run it under 20 minutes.  Is that possible?  I don’t know, but if I don’t try (and train) I’ll never find out.  Each 5K I’ve run in the past year, I have finished close to 2 minutes faster than the previous one.  My last I finished in 22:10.  So, why not have a goal to reach for and see what I can do.  It makes running more fun for me.

I decided on my biggest goal of my short career yesterday.  Boston.  Yup, I am no longer going to say that I hope to qualify for Boston in the Jacksonville Marathon in December.  My goal is to qualify for it.  Once TJ, RS and I qualify, we have to be “chosen” and then we will run it.

So, to make this a real goal and have a constant reminder, I am changing the tag line at the top of my blog from, “The journey is the destination” to “My Journey to Boston”.

I may not make it.  Who knows.  I may not get under 20 minutes in my next 5K.  But if I don’t try and if I don’t set a goal that seems beyond my reach, I’ll never fail because I’ll never try. I would rather try and fail then never try at all.

So here is to the Boston Marathon.  I hope to see you soon!

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Running, Weight and Boston

It was a good first week back to running.  My long day was Sunday and I chose to run only 6 miles, which put me at 23 for the week.  Not bad for the first week back after a 2 week break.  I think the cardiovascular effects of the time off surprised me most.  On Tuesday, I ran 3 miles at a 9 minute pace – ugh, had I fallen that far back in only 2 weeks?  No, it only took a couple of days to be back in the 8:30 pace.  Yesterday I ran 6 miles at an 8:23 pace.  I am happy with that result.  Although my hips are acting up some, I am still trying to stay away from anti-inflamatories to keep the pain down.  It is tolerable, so I will keep with my hope of not needing to go on them again.

All in all, things are progressing, however I am fighting my old friend, carbs.  I am back to battling the intense need of carbs and my need to keep my weight off.  As of this morning I have gained back 5 lbs.  I am not happy with that.  I can see where I went overboard this weekend a couple of times and eat too much bread, but I also ran quite a bit. This is the most difficult thing about running for me.  How do I control the urge to eat and run at the same time.  My metabolism isn’t strong enough to just keep the weight off.  I don’t eat a lot, but evidently it is enough to gain weight.

Ultimately running will win out and I’ll just work at keeping the weight off.  This is not easy, but neither is running 6 days a week.

Finally, I have decided to make a real effort to qualify for Boston in the Jacksonville marathon this next December.  I will do all I can do to make that goal.  Goals in running make it that much more interesting and fun for me.  I will do my best and see what happens, but I wanted to put it “out there” to make it more real to me.

Today is my off day.  Tomorrow… It all starts over again.