Achieving Goals

Working with young adults keeps me young. It also keeps me looking at how I live as I challenge them to pay attention to how they live. I tell them, “ What you do every day matters.” They act as if they have all the time in the world to make a good decision!

Achieving goals involves work and persistence over time. (Ingredients that they need very badly). As I close in on 59, I decided to run the Houston Half Marathon in January of 2014. I have done major bike rides over the years, raising money for multiple sclerosis doing the MS-150 eight times. The MS-150 is a 2-day bike ride from Houston to Austin. I have trained and completed 2 100-mile bike rides in the heat of a Texas summer. We call these “centuries.”  These are marks of achievement in the bike community.

These challenges have helped me to appreciate training. There are so many goals we can meet if we train for them. Natural athletes, young people, or other “superior physical specimens” can accomplish these feats and make it look easy. Most of us have to put in considerable effort over time to cross the finish line.

The training program that I am using began in September and covers 16 weeks to the race on January 19^th. I got a training buddy to help me stay committed. It helps to have a culture around you that promotes your efforts as it is easy to have good intentions to stay focused on the goal quietly erode. What I have noticed in the process of training is the different phases. Initially, it just feels daunting, unattainable, and scary. You begin the training out of fear. You work hard and do all the right things. Over time, you begin to notice that you are getting better. Stamina and distance have increased. It starts to feel manageable. This is a dangerous time because it is really hard to get up and run 6 days a week! If it is rainy and cold, it is not hard to want to just stay in bed. That’s why you have to have supports and commitments outside of yourself to stay motivated.

Young adults who have trouble sustaining their efforts often assume that for successful people, it just comes naturally.  Somehow you have some ingredient that they did not get. I am here to tell you that it is easy to quit. Each of us is quite capable of talking ourselves out of a goal. There is no magic ingredient. In my experience it requires a host of supports, including telling other people what you are trying to achieve. Consider this my shout out that running 13.1 miles is hard and I appreciate your support!