Goals are dreams with deadlines!
Many times we dream about things that we wish would take place in our lives: a better job, a new house, obtain my ideal weight and maintain it, run a 5K or marathon PR, being able to travel or send our kids to private school. Why is it that sometimes our dreams come true and sometimes we wake up and realize 5 years later we are still wishing for the same thing? Maybe some dreams are easier to obtain because of our belief system and some dreams would require us to really stretch outside of our comfort zone to reach them and we are just not sure if we can really do it! Regardless, I maintain that we make our dreams a reality when we treat them as Goals and give them Deadlines.
Set the Goal!
Back in January I set a goal to return to competitive running and made a list of the races in which I wanted to participate this year. With the help of my coach, Amy Smith, we mapped out my workouts and I continued making small changes to my eating habits. My focus was adding variety, more vegetables and cutting back on refined sugar. Because I felt so much better, it was easy to maintain the food changes. However, my running was really slow and I had to learn how to be patient with myself and not get frustrated with what seemed a lack of progress.
Patiences and Perseverance: Little by little it adds up!
I set a big goal to break 20 minutes in the 5K by the end of July. There were many times I questioned if this goal was realistic. It seemed as if I had plateaued. If I couldn’t even run one 7 minute mile, how on earth was I going to run 3 miles at 6:20? Amy tweaked my workouts and I continued to show up focused and ready to run while staying committed to the small dietary changes I had already made. Even though I wasn’t seeing immediate progress, I trusted that it would come with time, strength building activity, healthy lifestyle and my willingness to show up.The breakthrough came in June with a strong performance in the Go! Mile good enough to win my age group and only seconds shy of winning the Masters Division and prize money! My workouts started improving dramatically.
Changes=Improvement=Confidence!
As I approached my target race, That Dam Night Run, in Arkadelphia, AR my confidence soared. My thoughts went from if I break 20 to I will break 20. Normally I have a Plan A (what I want to run), B (what will be an acceptable secondary goal), C (what I will do if I have to regroup) and sometimes a D (the wheels fell off and I’m just happy to be able to run) when I prepare for a race, but this time there was only a Plan A. I announced my intentions to the world and knew that the only thing that
would keep me from my goal would be circumstances beyond my control. I made a choice not to consider what these potential circumstances might be and instead to focus on all the things I had done to get myself prepared. I was confident in my ability and I was ready to run.
I ran this race hard and focused and laid it all on the line, but the circumstance beyond my control showed up to the race as well: extreme heat and humidity! We have had an unusually cool summer here in Arkansas and with no training in the heat, my body was not acclimated. I am not ashamed or embarrassed that I didn’t break 20 minutes. Disappointed maybe, but proud of myself for gutting it out and pushing through. I finished in 21:41, good enough to win the Masters Division. I had a great race not because I dared to dream, but because I dared to turn my dream into a goal with a deadline!
Clean Up Your Diet: You can do this too!
My challenge to you as you pursue your quest to get healthy is to not just dream and visualize how you want to look and feel, but to set a goal with a deadline. Then break it down into smaller goals with deadlines. Be patient. Good stuff takes time. Focus on small changes you can make and don’t try to make drastic changes overnight. If you are looking for support in this endeavor, join my Clean Up Your Diet online nutrition program. My team of Health Coaches and I will guide you through which changes to make, how to make them and provide you with an online community of like minded people to support you on your journey.
Clean Up Your Diet is the very same program I used when I was learning how to improve my own health. I had struggled with running injuries and it seemed like I was always catching whatever bug was going around. It got pretty bad before I realized the quality of my health correlated to my diet and lifestyle. In short I just wasn’t supplying my body with the nutrients it needed to train and maintain a healthy immune system. Because of my own personal results I am thrilled to be able to offer this program to you!
If you are tired of feeling sick and tired and ready to get off the sidelines and back in the race, then don’t put it off any longer. You can sign up today and get immediate access to your Getting Started Guide. You’ll be prepared and ready to go when the program starts August 11th. To register or to get more information about Clean Up Your Diet click here.
