Milestones

Following the 5K race on Sunday August 20, my training has been steady, I have recorded the following runs:

8/21 - 3 miles (+ 11 mile ride)
8/22 - 2 miles
8/23 - 2.5 miles
8/24 - 3.5 miles
8/25 - off
8/26 - 2 miles
8/27 - off
8/28 - 4 miles

Last night I ran 4 continuous miles, marking my longest run to date (not including 4.5 miles on the Treadmill using walking breaks). Hitting that milestone obviously felt great, but it seems with every milestone mileage I hit I don't feel the same rush of excitement as the previous mark. I think this has to do with higher expectations now, I left the house last night knowing I could do 4 miles, whereas before I would start a run hoping to finish the predetermined distance. I'm planning on hitting the 5 mile mark on 9/9, and the 10K mark on 9/22, just prior to beginning my modified Hal Higdon's 18 Week Novice Marathon schedule which also includes a long run of 6 miles in the first week.


mile‧stone  /ˈmaɪlˌstoʊn/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[mahyl-stohn]

1.	a stone functioning as a milepost.

2.	a significant event or stage in the life, progress, development, or the like of a person, nation, etc.: Her getting the job of supervisor was a milestone in her career.

Milestones are great stepping stones along the way to achieving my ultimate short term goal of running a marathon, and once I have achieved that goal, I will set my sights higher with new goals and new milestones to reach. If we set goals too high, we will often become discouraged along the way resulting in a lack of motivation to reach the goal. Milestones have a tremendous purpose in achieving these goals, as they allow progress to be tracked (and even celebrated) and give a sense of accomplish we can use to build confidence on. Personally I have 26 literal milestones, and have achieved four of them to this point and only after I finish the marathon will I cross the last of these milestones. So set milestones, but realize the journey does not end until we cross the finish line of the race.

I've had a few doubts creep in lately regarding my ability to train for and finish the ING Miami Marathon at the end of January. I'm going to wait another 6-8 weeks to make a registration decision, even though I would like the added motivation of dropping a non-refundable $80, this could result in pushing too hard which would likely end in injury.

I'm in my 10th week of running and increased my endurance from 1/3 mile to 4 miles, which does not sound like a lot, but it is a 1200% increase which I must say sounds much more impressive. This rapid rate of improvement will obviously slow substancially...to 300% over the next 10 weeks.

School started back last week, so back to being very busy with classes on Tue/Thu and work on Mon/Wed/Fri. I think I'm going to have to resort to some sort of caffiene intake, something I would rather avoid that may become a necessary evil to stay alert in my morning classes. I'm also going to resume reading "Blue Like Jazz" by Donald Miller and "The Competitive Runner's Handbook" by Bob Glover to occupy any free time I have left.

Till next time...

"What has passed is already finished with,
What I find more interesting is what is still to come."

~ Emil Zatopek