marathon monday dreams

Happy Marathon Monday! The kiddos and I enjoyed live streaming the Boston Marathon on the computer (hooray for home school flexibility) and was actually able to watch the Wave 2 start while FaceTiming with my Dad who lives about a quarter mile from the start! It was so cool!

As I have gotten more into running, and learning about running my dreams have evolved and grown. My honest goal for my first half marathon was to "finish and not die". That's it. That was the only goal I had.

When I survived RnR Arizona, I then wanted to break 2 hours for the half and squeaked that one out in November, with a 1:59:59 (seriously, I practically dove across the finish line), knocking over 27 minutes off my time.

And now...Now my dreams/goals have shifted again. I want to run and finish the Route 66 FULL marathon on November 18.

But with each goal I set, I also knew in the back of my mind what I would want to do if when I accomplished the current goal. So when I toed the line in Arizona, I very much just wanted to finish and stay alive, but I already knew that if I did it, then I would someday work to break 2 hours. And when I started the training cycle to break 2 hours, I knew that whenever I finally accomplished THAT goal I would turn my sights towards running a full.

So what's on the horizon after I finish my first full? Good Question, so glad you asked.

My gut answer is to say I want to hit that 4:00 mark for the marathon. That will be my next goal. I want to run my first one and finish. If after that, I want to run again, I will shoot for 4 hours. (no idea what I will be training at for November right now, still building base fitness, but I will venture to guess 4:30-5:00)

But I'd be lying to you and to me if I didn't say that I already envision someday taking a very serious crack at a BQ (3:35 for my age). Audacious, I know, but the more I run, the bigger my dreams become. And frankly, that is one of the best things to come out of this journey into endurance sports.

Dream Big Dreams, and run after your goals. And like that saying, about how to eat an elephant? Just take one bite at a time. My first bite is finishing a marathon, but the dream continues to grow. And sometimes when dreams grow, they change. Maybe I will finish my marathon and decide to move into another sport and never take a crack at 4 hours or a BQ and that will be okay too...that's the thing about dreams, you never know where you might end up.

I hope you are dreaming big in your life, and if you have forgotten what your big dream was, remember it. Start from the beginning, and remember: All good stories start at the beginning, but they all have to start somewhere. Go write yours, whatever it may be.

Dream Big, Run Happy.