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| An incredible athlete! Grace, not me... |
I had an awesome speaker come in this evening to talk to my clinic about goal setting. Grace is an amazing woman. Eight years ago, she was overweight and took the Learn to Run clinic at the Running Room. Two weeks ago, she ran the 100 mile Sulphur Springs Trail Run. That's right, I said 100 miles! Listening to her story of how she started with 1 minute walking, I minute running, then worked up to 5K, 10K, half marathon, full marathon, Iron Man, various other long distances and finally a 100 miler was inspirational to say the least. And she completed that hundred miler in 25 hours! Can you imagine running for 25 hours?
Grace made achievable short term and long term goals for herself. Once she reached a goal (ie: completing Learn to Run, then a 5K, then a 10K, etc.) she'd make a new goal for herself. Her goals got bigger and bigger because she admitted she got bored. I can appreciate that. I'm definitely not bored with running, but if I'm not training for something, I feel a little lost. I need a structured running schedule. Just like I need to be structured about my eating. It's what works best for me.
I doubt myself and my abilities every single day. Even though I know I'm becoming a stronger runner, I always have this voice in the back of my head questioning whether or not I can actually reach the goals I make for myself. I have two half marathons under my belt now, so the obvious next step would be a full marathon. With my foot and orthotic issues, I wonder if I'm even going to be able to run a full marathon. The rest of me is healthy right now, but my crampy toes are a real killjoy and confidence buster. Running long distances for me is painful. Really, really painful. Regardless, running is a mental sport and I'm able to run through the pain because I can't give up on my dreams. I'm sure my toe issues will be worked out once my orthotics are adjusted again. I'm pretty sure that the lump to correct my Metatarsalgia is in the wrong place. When I wore the orthotics for my half marathon on Sunday, my foot pain was the same as if I didn't have the orthotics in at all. Five hundred and seventy-five dollars not very well spent! It's all very frustrating to say the least.
Regardless of my foot pain, listening to Grace talk tonight gave me the motivation I need to move forward. I will get to the bottom of my foot pain and I will move forward and begin training for my full marathon at the end of the month. I can't settle for anything less. Grace said that if she can make and reach her goals, anyone can. Grace said that running her first marathon was a lot of work and she swore she would never run another one. But she also forgot about how hard it was once she was done. She's run many since that first one and set even bigger goals for herself. She said that doing the Iron Man in Florida in 2011 was a piece of cake compared to the hundred miler. And even though the hundred miler was a lot of work and training, she's already planning on doing it again next year. Well shit. If Grace can run a hundred freaking miles, I can run 26.2 miles even if I do have crampy toes. Thanks for the pep talk and the inspiration Grace. I really needed it tonight. Maybe I'll be ready to join you in Sulphur Springs in another 5 years or so!
