Chocolate is a wonderful treat, but too much chocolate isn’t healthy.
A career provides accomplishment and income, but being a workaholic isn’t healthy.
Competition is a great motivator, but can also be too much of a good thing…and unhealthy.
Yet, being less competitive goes against everything within me! Honestly, the competitor in me has built prison walls in my life that have left me worn out and feeling trapped.
Let’s take a look at my 2015 running goals and results:
PR in a 5K – tied my PR of 19:45
PR in Half Marathon (1:30:00 goal) – fastest of two half marathons was 1:31:36
PR in a Full Marathon (3:30:00 goal) = my only full marathon was 3:44:56
Run 1,500 miles in 2015 (just like 2014) = Made it to 1,501. The ONLY goal accomplished pushed my three year total to 4,014 miles.
I’ve concluded that my global competitiveness is actually hurting my chances to accomplish any of these goals. Time to redefine success. Time to attack one goal at a time. Time to re-evaluate. Time to simplify.
So, here’s my 2016 plan:
PR a Half Marathon with the goal of 1:30:00
My half marathon training should allow for me to PR in a 5K as well.
So, what about my full marathon goal and running a gazillion miles in 2016? I’ve let them go. Buh bye! See ya! Prison walls knocked down. FREEDOM! Maybe I’ll tackle those in 2017 when my Boston Marathon qualifying time gets ten more additional minutes (3:25:00).
To accomplish these goals I’m studying two running strategies, and I invite you to take a look at them as well.
When I think about it, I’m not asking myself (or you) to be less competitive in 2016. Let’s just be “competitively focused” so that the joy of running remains contagious to those around us. Here’s to clear, simplified goals that lead to amazing results in 2016!
– todd
p.s. PR stands for Personal Record if you’re new to running.
