Goals

"I know the price of success: dedication, hard work, and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen."
-Frank Lloyd Wright

Last Friday, Sam, Liz and I went on a little family outing to Lufkin. Liz needed to get some school clothes, I needed to go to Academy, and we all needed to just go out and play together. So we did. While she and Sam were in JC Penney looking at clothes, I wandered over to Borders bookstore. I love to read, but honestly, I think I love books more than I love reading. Does that make sense? I mean, I read a lot, but more than reading, I just love books. Anyway, I found one called "50/50" by a guy named Dean Karnazes. This guy is ridiculous. Men's Health called him the fittest man alive. He's the guy who ran on a tread mill over Times Square for 24 hours a few years ago. He's also run many "ultramarathons", races of 50, 100, or even more miles. The book I bought is the story of when he ran 50 marathons, in 50 states, on 50 consecutive days. Like I said- ridiculous.

At the end of last year, I became a runner. I did it for a few days, and quickly got hooked. It's fun, it's invigorating, it's great to finish and be able to say, "Man- I really just ran ___ miles." I did really well for about 4 months. I was running 3-5 days a week, doing as many as 6 miles, and even entered a 5k in January. My time wasn't great, but I did it. I accomplished a goal. It was awesome. But then, life happened.

In mid-February, we had a church retreat that took a lot of planning and preparation, so I missed a week of running. After that, my running partner was out of town, so 1 week became 2. 2 weeks quickly turned into 3, and now it's been 7 months since I last ran regularly. I hate that about myself. That's my pesonality. Make a commitment, do well with it for a while, lose motivation, just quit doing it.

Before we went to Lufkin, I had already decided that this week I was going to start running again, so when I found that book, it was just a little extra motivation. Sunday night, I sat down and typed out my running schedule. I printed it out and hung it on the fridge. Yesterday was day one, and I did it. Today's an off day, but tomorrow I'll be at the park again. I'm typing this post for two reasons. 1- accountability. I figure if I'm telling people that I'm running again, I've gotta do it. I have a goal and a date written on my schedule. On __/__/2010, I'm going to run __________. (I promise it's written on my schedule, I'll share it with you later.) 2- maybe my motivation will motivate someone else. Maybe you're like me- you know what you want to do, you just don't really feel like doing it. Well, I'm doing it, so you should, too. If my chunky rear can wake up early and go running, surely you can do whatever it is that you've been thinking about doing. Maybe it's not health related. Maybe your goals involve relationships, money, hobbies, whatever. Seriously, if I can do it, anybody can. I'm the world's worst at this sort of thing. In the immortal words of Rob Schneider, you can do it.

I'll update soon,
Jared

Dean Karnazes's website:
www.ultramarathonman.com
Other sites I'm reading a lot:
www.runnersworld.com
www.active.com