Setting Goals

It’s not completely arbitrary to set new goals each year. In many ways, the earth’s travel along its orbit and the cycle of the seasons this produces creates natural phases in our lives and so as a new year begins it is perfectly reasonable to consider all of the things that we want to achieve during the current cycle. Of course, it should probably be noted that most things worth learning and doing require many trips around the sun before any fruits can be seen.

Running is one of these things that can take a long time before you see the results that you want. You don’t go from the couch to a 333 mile race in a couple of weeks (but it doesn’t have to take a lifetime either!). My route to ultra running took several years and was fraught with highs and lows. In the beginning I used races as my goals, and would plan my annual schedule around a particular race, a marquee event towards which everything built over the course of the year. In many ways I still do this, although not nearly as deliberately. I usually have a couple of specific races that I want to do as well as time goals for various distances. I think it’s important that your goals motivate you, but deciding what goals to set can be a little tricky. If the goal can be achieved too easily it probably isn’t serving much purpose. On the other hand, if the goal is unrealistic it probably is unattainable and could also be detrimental to motivation. Understanding your limits and finding the Goldilocks zone is very important when setting goals.

In the past there were some years where I wanted to focus on a particular distance such as the half marathon. In those years I would train at the half and run several races throughout the year. In other years I focused on simply completing a race at a certain distance, such as the full marathon or the 50 or 100 miler. I wasn’t particularly concerned about my times in these races, but rather I wanted to just get the experience of finishing one. Running races doesn’t always have to be about your times anyways. I have run plenty of races slower than my max ability, but nevertheless thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I’ve also completely bonked and had to walk it in, and I’ve been no stranger to the back of ambulances or medical tents. I assure you none of these things were specific goals, but they make the stories funnier and remind me of how much I love running.

Some of my favorite runs are the ones that are outside of the ordinary and bring a certain sense of adventure with them. I think back to last year when I was in Japan in my wife’s hometown. She grew up on an island full of waterfalls, mountain-top temples and castles, and long stretches of coastline. Each evening I would take out a paper map and pick the next day’s route, usually through terraced onion fields that are ever present on Awaji Island to some new unknown destination. I think I did more slow, long runs on that trip than I’ve ever done in my life, but what better way to explore?

I spent my 20’s mostly traveling the world and traveling overland and have always loved the challenge of getting from point A to B. I’ve had entire vacations that were basically the opposite of the Beach Boys whole “get there fast and then take it slow” mentality. Now married in my later 30’s with two kids and a steady job it’s a little more challenging to find that same adventure in my every day, but it’s not impossible. In some ways I have come to appreciate the interesting things all around me even more and I usually dedicate a fair amount of my annual goals to simply exploring and doing something new. This year is no exception, and as usual I have my race goals and time goals, but I also have several goals just to go camping or hiking or kayaking.

I don’t know if other people write down their goals like this, or if they find it helpful to do so, but for me I tend to use my written goals not only to measure my progress but also to measure how far my actual preferences deviate from my stated preferences. I never rigidly hold myself to my goals and I don’t often go out of my way to complete a particular goal. They mostly serve to remind me of things that I want to do, or at least wanted to do at the beginning of the year. But a lot of things change over the course of a year and goals naturally change as well. Sometimes the process of single-mindedly pursuing your goals actually prevents you from doing the things you truly want to do simply because you didn’t know you wanted to do them when you set down and wrote out your goals. The lesson I’ve learned is simple; your goals shouldn’t be a burden to you and you shouldn’t be a slave to them.

Rather, I find it good to always be willing to re-evaluate your goals because time is precious. As a corollary, I have become better and better at setting reasonable, attainable goals which actually align with my preferences. If you don’t really want to run a 100 miler, don’t make this a goal for yourself. To a certain extent I suppose our goals are actually downstream from our preferences and the things we already want to do will often guide us in setting goals.

So in 2020 I have a new set of targets and challenges that I want to achieve and only time will tell if I can do this or not. Either way, I find it is always good to have something to be working towards and something that you seek to achieve.

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