A couple of months ago, I told myself I wanted to accomplish a goal outside of work. I had been talking for weeks about signing up for the women’s half marathon in St. Pete.
“You should sign up for it,” my fiance Troy kept saying.
I procrastinated and then, with four weeks to go before the race, I signed up for what would be my fourth half marathon. As I trained, there were mornings when I just wanted to stay in bed and skip my workouts, but I kept the finish line in mind and persisted.
It paid off. On Sunday, I ran the race and got the time I had been hoping for: 1 hour, 50 minutes. It’s five minutes slower than my fastest time but five minutes faster than my last half marathon. I felt strong for most of the race and was motivated by Troy’s cheers. He typically rides his bike along the half-marathon courses and stops at various points to cheer me on.
“Go Mal, go!”
The cheers carried me through to the finish line.
I’m glad I ran the race; I set a goal and accomplished it in the company of thousands of other women (and a few men) who had also signed up for it. Setting goals for myself — professionally and personally — helps keep me grounded and gives me a feeling of accomplishment. My goals for the next couple of months involve memoir writing (I’m aiming for two pages per week) and wedding planning! I don’t know if you can really count wedding planning as a “goal,” but I like the idea of setting goals for myself instead of setting “deadlines”; it makes everything seem more manageable, and fun.
I’ll keep you posted as I (hopefully) accomplish them.
Word on the Street 