Personal Journey - Part 5 Keep working on that goal

In this fifth entry in this blog series, I’ll share my journey of working to achieve this big goal and how I started expanding my abilities to move closer to this big goal by setting some smaller goals to get me moving.

I had signed up for 5 5k events for the year of 2021, but I still hadn’t done a thing to get myself in shape or even start moving more. So mid-year 2020, I started taking my moving meditations I had been doing and adding some training purpose within them. I made my walks longer, on hillier terrain, or when time permitted, completed more hikes. An odd shift occurred within me; I really looked forward to these walks. I even was excited to walk in the snow, but I lost my hiking trail several times on these snow hikes.

I could keep up the excitement by focusing on my goal of completing these 5 5k events through the winter months, which can be really hard for me (I’m not a fan of freezing weather). As the weather warmed up, I stepped up my training to return to more flat areas, but started adding intervals to increase my pace and endurance. I started off simple, with just a 30 second run/jog and then walk until I was recovered and my heart rate was back to a walking pace and then repeat the intervals. I felt my body getting stronger and others noticed my body getting leaner (not skinny by any means; I like my sweets).

When the time came to complete my first 5k, my doubts crept in. Even though I had completed walk/runs of this distance and greater in my training, I doubted I could finish this event. I allowed myself to lower my expectations for this event to “Not Dying”. I had some serious doubts swirling in my mind about this event and it was overwhelming to me. I was actually going to do this. Good news… I did not die on that first 5k event, nor did I die in subsequent events. As I settled into the nerves of 5k events and the negative self-talk that seemed to accompany every event, I started inviting friends to cheer me on at the start and finish lines. I also noted that my times for these events slowly were creeping down, meaning my pace was increasing slowly.

After I completed the 5 5k events that I signed up for in 2021, it was time to progress forward toward the larger goal of running a marathon by age 45. I signed up for a 10k event in 2022, along with the same 5 5k event series I took part in 2021. A logical progression along this goal path, but still a tremendous step as I looked to double my distance in a year’s time. But recall 2020, where I more than doubled my distance from no exercise to walking/ hiking/ jogging 4-5 times a week by the end of the year. I got this!

How are you doing “doubling the distance” and building upon the small steps on the goals that you’ve set for yourself? Keep it up and try not to get discouraged when things get hard or don’t work out like you expect. If you can learn from these situations, you’ll find strength and creativity reserves that you never imagined possible.