Running Goals 2013

I've been a runner since 2006. At the start of each new year I pick up a blank runner's log knowing that by the end of the year it will be tattered and filled with numbers and notations. It serves to remind me that I have a clean slate of possibilities as I lean into another year of running.

The blank log also tells me it's time to clarify why I still do this and what worthwhile goals should I aim for as I start over. So late tonight I seek to answer both the why I run and where I aim to take running in 2013.

WHY I RUN:
I'm 50 and it would be very easy to say, it's time to turn in my active badge for a nice soft couch and a remote control. Who needs to suffer unnecessarily at this point in life? If I lost my passion for this habit of grown fond of, I'd retire my shoes and prop my feet. But the truth is I still love running for these reasons:

1. Keeps me fit. I like to feel healthy and not feel winded after a few flights of stairs. I like the prospects of feeling energetic and happy when I step on a scale
2. Makes my brain smile. Running relieves the crazy stress that sometimes assaults me. It allows me to get to a happier and more restful state of mind.
3. Love the feeling of progress made. Occasionally I am taken back by a surprisingly good pace or relative ease I felt on a normally tough stretch of a course. To shave time off marathons is kind of addictive. To look back on a log filled with miles over 52 weeks brings a sense of accomplishment.
4. Undiscovered potential is still out there. I love the thought that I can still push my mind and body beyond self-imposed limits. It's fun to discover that I can do things I use to think impossible.
5. Love the journey. It's not all about getting to the finish line, it's about taking in the sights, sounds and scents. It's about the reward of a good sweat during a hard work out and the satisfying gulp of cold liquid or the zing inside muscles and tendons  at the end of 15 miles. It's the little small wonders that would often go unnoticed if I didn't get out there today.

GOALS THIS YEAR:
Some of these goals may be similar from past years but there are a few that are a bit more audacious.

1. THE BIG ONE Qualify for the Boston Marathon. I need to run a 3:30 marathon to make it there. This demands that I trim back 15 minutes from last fall's Chicago race. I will have to learn how to run 25 seconds faster per mile than I did that race. I have work to get there but it's amazing that I can even consider this lofty goal that is more in reach than I ever dreamed.
2. TWO MARATHONS again this year spring & fall. Got tot rain hard yet smart!
3. 1500 MILES for the year
4. TROPHY I'd love to train for a 5k and get a trophy once again. Speedwork! speedwork!
5. FUN I want to love my running more at the end of 2013 than I do right now. 

So tonight I have clarified why I still run and have set some pretty big goals to the new year.
Look forward to seeing what the year has in store for this runner!