Running Mama - setting goals!

I have not been able to figure out how to carve out the time to get my running in on any sort of regular basis since my running partner's injuries have forced her to stop running.

I have missed it.

Greatly.

Such a great stress relief.  Sanity "me"-time where I don't have to think about anything at all.  I can think or pray if I want to.  Or I can zone out and just run.  Alone.  No one vying for my energy or attention or needing something from me.  Just me and the trail... putting one foot in front of the other.

LOVE IT!

This spring I have finally made a way to prioritize my running again.  Strengthening workouts, varying my runs in lengths and intensity, and the big difference: I set some goals. 

I have had my eyes set on running a 10km for some time, but an old injury and lack of time to train kept me away from pursuing it.  I decided this was finally the time to do it. I registered for a race.  I've never raced for running before.  Only for cross-country skiing back in high school and university, where training was always done as a team and running was always just for cross-training.  Never my main sport.

What a difference setting a goal has made!  As I longed for a Garmin GPS watch like my friend's, I chanced upon "Runtastic" a free app on my blackberry which made all the difference to my running!  I could now not only track distance and time, but my PACE.  Suddenly, I started racing against myself (I'm rather competitive).  And what do you know, with a race in sight and my pace being the only thing on my mind as I ran (so amazing to for a moment forget all the other stresses of the week!), I started to get faster!

My first race was April 22nd on the hilliest course ever.  My cross-country skiing training came in handy there with all that hill work!  I exceeded my goal on that frigid day:  I ran the 10km well under an hour.  Actually 7 minutes faster then I had set as a goal for myself!  Not only that, I came in 5th out of the 37 women running and 2nd in my age category!  (okay, small crowd that day, but man did that feel good!!)

Have you ever surprised yourself??  I sure did that day!

Knowing that I could not only break 60 minutes on a hilly course like that, but actually compete, my goals got loftier!  I wanted to get even faster!

The next race was set for a month later.  May 27th.  This time, I would be running with a friend.  A seasoned runner and his son.  That would be different.  Having never run together before, who knew if we'd keep the same pace, if we were best to run alone?  But being as competitive as we were, it ended up being a personal best for the three of us, keeping a crazy fast pace that we didn't even know we could keep (because we didn't want to get beat by the other)!  That day we broke under 50 minutes and I again pleasantly surprised myself!

So yes... now my eyes are on the next goal... finding the next race... finding a way to keep up my running in the summer once the kids are out of school will be the challenge, so I believe repeating the results from my last two races come the fall would make me happy!

For now, the next goal is training with my 9 year old daughter for her to run her first 5km in September, then I might sneak in a 10km race the following weekend.

What a difference goal setting can make!  And what a high you get from not only meeting your goals but exceeding them!  Pushes you to keep discovering what you are capable of!

I've got the bug... So exhilarating to be doing something for myself that's so good for my mind and body!  Makes you stay young I think... Haven't felt that rush since university!  LOVE IT!