Focus

As a runner it's easy to pick a certain thing to focus on, and generally that is best. Are you working on getting to a 5K, 10K, or longer distance? Are you trying to lose weight? Are you trying to get faster? Are you trying to improve form?

Lacey is a speed demon, don't let her say otherwise, she is constantly working on speed and steadily improving, at an amazing rate! She ran 4 miles in 32:40 today! That's strong work! I'm so freaking proud of her!!! (Everytime she tells me what she's run I do the math and get so stinking excited, and usually a bit teary-eyed!)

My caution is not to let someone else's goal become your goal if that's not what you need. For instance, I never worked on speed until this year. It wasn't MY goal, it wasn't where I was or what I needed to focus on. Just because Lacey and I are working on speed (her way more than me) or I am training for a full marathon, don't let that become your goal. Adequately assess where you are, what YOU want to accomplish next and go from there! If you try to gauge your goals off of someone else you can get hurt, but worse than that you can get discouraged, and that is a true road block, since we've said before running is majority in your head!! :)

Another caution I have is reading too much or getting too much advice. I think that holds true in any situation as you'll always have mixed ideas and conflicting suggestions, but the truth is, if you're wanting to accomplish something with running do two things...1. Find a plan that YOU can live with and 2. Stick with that plan.

I told a friend this week who was asking about doing a full, if you read too much or think too much about it, you'll talk yourself out of it every.single.time!!

My knee has been keeping me from high mileage every week that people say you need for a full. I could let that stop me, but I'm working hard on shutting out the noise and knowing in my heart (and HEAD) what I'm capable of!

Set YOUR own goals, run for YOU! Then, run like you stole something :)