A Goal and a Maybe

Now that the craziness of Thanksgiving is behind me, I am already thinking a little bit about next year.

I loved doing the 10k. I didn't really love every moment of it -- there were some that I downright hated and I wondered if I could even finish it at all (I'm looking at you, stupid ankle/calf pain!), but the little triumphs far outweigh any of the temporary discomfort. Knowing I can do it means I can do it again, and do it even better.

So here's my official goal statement: I plan to run the 10k in next year's Turkey Trot, and my goal for next year is to run at a 6 mph pace. Well, a bit faster than that, actually. I'd like to finish in one hour, which means shaving almost eight minutes off my total time.

Okay, done. I'm committed now. Committed to trying to achieve that goal, at least. I have a year to prepare.

Here's the maybe. I was doing a decompression of our respective 10k experiences tonight after spin class with a few of my students who had also run it. Two of them participated in their first half marathon recently and were using this 10k as a training run for their next half in April. They seem to think that I would have enough time to prepare for it. They were impressed with my finishing time last Thursday and seem to think it's the next logical step for me to take. (They're easily 15 years younger than I am, and finished 10 minutes ahead of my finishing time. Their idea of encouragement is, "We saw people of all ages and fitness levels in the other half we did; you can do it!")

So that's the maybe. They said the the longest training run they did was 11 miles. I could do that. I would think I could get up to 10 with enough effort. So I'm in the thinking stages of making this goal. I'll definitely start my making my distance runs (Saturdays) six miles, instead of shooting for five and only making it four and a half. That's a start.

Here's another maybe, that sounds much more achievable for where I am right now. One of the other girls in my class mentioned a 10k mountain run coming up. I can do that. It would be tough, sure, but how much fun does that sound! I told her to keep me updated on those details.

Right now I'm someone who runs, which I'm totally fine with. I love the sense of accomplishment that comes from dragging myself out of bed and going running in the morning. Even that simple act is important to me. But maybe I'm changing from someone who runs into a runner.