Managing expectations

A month ago I ran the Philadelphia marathon with my buddy Chris Farley of Pacers Running stores fame. My goal was to have it be a different race than my typical marathon. What I mean is that the past few marathon races for me have been a bit less fun than I would liked. I have trained hard, and put in plenty of miles to prepare. Racedays have been somehow disappointing which has left me a bit off my game. Most commonly the disappointment has been related to missing a time goal, or some other performance based goal which was missed. After considering scraping marathons all together, I focused instead on getting back to the root of why most of us do these races in the first place: fun.

Going into the training cycle for Philly, I decided to train without strictly following a training program. Instead, I was committed to kinda winging it. I had join a local run club called The dojo of pain which gave me plenty of opportunities to run very hard. The group was great- cool folks with a common passion for running, and doing it fast. I went into the race feeling speedy and fit. When your primary goal is to have fun, don't make the same mistake I did which was to attach a time goal to it. This basically screwed that plan all together. I have learned that basing your goals on time really does not work for me. The reason this is the case is because if you miss your time goal, then it is hard to be satisfied. At the end of the day, this attitude is just plain silly.

I ran a 2:59 at philly, which basically equaled my PR. It felt good to get to the finish under three hours, though I had expected to be there a bit sooner. Missing my goal by 1% should feel like more of a victory than it did. Changing this will be a goal for 2012. How do you balk at an A-? You don't, right!?!

What I love about sports are the hidden life lessons within the training and competition. Running a marathon teaches you that with adequate time and preparation most anything is possible. This carries over for me to work, and even my relationships. Certainly being married teaches you that sometimes you have to dig a bit to get to that great feeling of crossing the finish line. Missing a goal by 1% teaches us things too. It teaches that we can't hit it out of the park every time. It teaches us that we need to be happy with this . The more we can do this, I feel, the more we can come back stronger the next time. We look to the horizon for the next opportunity while focusing on the next step to prepare, and do the best we can to be ready. Sorry for the corn but thanks for reading.