13 Goals for 13 Miles

Hello kittens...

Hope your early Wednesday morning is going well! Mine is off to a sleepless start, so I decided to post a blog.

Leslie had a great idea about creating a list of ideas/tips to help her along with training for her next race. I decided (since I copy everything she does) that I would do the same thing. So here's my little list:

13 Goals for 13 Miles:

13. I will always remember a very important comment that my Dad made in regards to running (well, life in general). "Christine, always go the extra mile... it's never crowded and never goes unnoticed." Now I know he plagiarized that quote from somewhere, but my Dad is one of the most goal-oriented people I've ever met. What Randy wants, Randy gets. And at 62 years old, he smoked me by 10 minutes seconds in a 5k last summer. No, not a half marathon, a 5k.  The point of this little rant is that sometimes when you are absolutely mentally and physically EXHAUSTED (ie. ohhhh I don't know, the last 12 miles of the 13 that Les and I ran together...), you have to keep telling yourself, GO THE EXTRA MILE. If your goals are easy to achieve, make them harder, CHALLENGE YOURSELF! Test the limits of your strength. So, I've made a promise to myself (and Les) that I will push hard this time (because last time was such a breeze, HA!) and set a time goal and stick to it throughout the entire race.

12. No matter what, always try to be an encouragement to those around me. I received a text tonight from one of my girlfriends telling me about her running progress and that she reads the blog! I LOVE hearing this! You guys have no idea how important it is to me to always encourage other people and I get so excited when other people share stories with me. I love love love knowing that our little blog has given others inspiration and motivation. GOSH, IT MAKES ME FEEL SO SPECIAL! :)

11. Stop cheating on myself. To mirror what Les said about cheating on long runs at the end of the training... Yes Jesus, forgive my sins as well, because I lied about this to myself on a regular basis. Let's be real here, sometimes its really flippin' hard to find time to take an 8-mile run... it just is. But, if we want to do well, we must remember... "When the going gets tough, the tough get going. We need to put our noses to the grindstone and get serious." (FYI, I just included two infamous quotations from my Dad and Leslie's Dad, respectively, from when we were a little nervous about exams our freshman year in college. Ahhhh, the memories. Let me just wipe the tears gushing from my eyes. Ok, it passed, I'm fine now. Dang allergies!)

10. Leslie is right, "Cookies are not breakfast." Neither are M&Ms, Tofutti Cuties, gummi bears, Oreos, etc. STOP EATING JUNK CHRISTINE! Enough said. I will consistently monitor my fruit/vegetable/whole grain/lean protein intake in the next 8 weeks and I will make sure that I'm eating things that are good for me rather than a sleeve of Oreos in one sitting. Maybe, I'll see if I can stretch it out to two sittings....

9. Pay attention to pain. I'll just admit this right now. I hate getting old. I've researched (and in many cases, purchased) tons of anti-aging, wrinkle-reversal, make-me-look-younger products because I absolutely cannot face reality. I hate admitting to myself that I am indeed getting older. Because I am such teenager-wannabe, I tend to ignore those little aches that runners sometimes have... then they turn into big aches. OOOPSIES! My goal for this race is to pay attention to the little pains and figure out what might be causing the problem, for example, "Do I need new shoes?" "Did I not stretch properly?" "Would a few Botox injections solve the problem?" ETC.

8. DRINK

7. MORE

6. PINOT NOIR.  WATER! I absolutely love diet coke, red wine, coffee, hot chocolate (basically ANYTHING that is NOT water)... I've slowly been incorporating more water into my routine. Those packets that you can toss into a water bottle (I prefer Crystal Light or Special K Protein) have really been helping a lot.

5. Just be Christine. Don't aspire to be Ryan Hall, Deana Kastor or anyone who does this professionally... like, as their job. JUST. BE. YOU. Because, let's face it, YOU are awesome, and if anyone wants to get all competitive and make you feel inferior, he or she is LAME. We all have great qualities and things that are totally unique to us and we all have aspects of our lives that maybe we aren't so proud of, but at the end of the day, we're all trying our hardest, and that's what matters. I mean, hey, I might not be the fastest runner out there, but I have a pretty sweet handbag collection a really positive attitude. You are great, don't let anyone tell you different. And if they do, send them my way, maybe they just need the Speedy 25 across the eyes special a hug. ;)

4. Tell someone your goal. Today when Les and I were bbming (a daily ritual), I told her one of my goals for a race following San Diego in July. If you want to force yourself to stick to something, advertise your goals. Its a whole heck of a lot harder to quit when you've told dozens of people about your plans!

3. Treat yourself. Leslie and I have always been big fans of doing something special for ourselves when we spend time with each other (for those of you who don't know this, Leslie and I have lived hundreds and hundreds of miles apart from each other for the last six years, so our visits with each other are cherished!). Regardless of price, we always do something fun together to remember the race/trip.

2. SLEEP. I need to focus on getting 7-8 regular hours of sleep a night. Addy, go with it, girl. We can do this together. You in your bed. Me in mine. Game on!

1. OK, instead of creating one final goal, I'm about to go work on goal #2, sleeping. Night all!

xo, c

"Within each of us is a hidden store of determination. Determination to keep us in the race when all seems lost." --Roger Dawson