And so it begins...

Goals do a wonderful thing to motivation.

Last week I ran a total of 20.5km.

I'm sure this is a record for me.

I'm very proud of that total even though it is no where near to the mileage that some of the 'serious' runners I 'know' do every week.

This time last year, I would have been happy to run 12-15k in a week. Now, just over 20k doesn't seem like enough.

I'm having a hard time fitting it all in, but the point is I'm fitting in runs where and when I can. Last week I ran Tuesday and Thursday evening and did a longer run with Sarah on Saturday. I had great plans to begin this week with a 4-5k run on Sunday but to be honest, my feet (the bottom of my left heel to be exact) were hurting badly.

Sarah thinks that it is time for me to purchase new shoes. I'm assuming she's right. My shoes were purchased over a year ago and have logged over 100 trips to Curves and over 400km. Currently I have New Balance (737's I think) and I like them. I have orthotics, so I need shoes that allow the sole to be removed and in the past 3 pairs of shoes, NB's have never let me down. I think a trip to a specialty store is in order though. Why not let the experts fit me correctly instead of buying the NB's that are on sale.

So, depending on how cold it actually is tomorrow at lunch (and how busy I am), I'll either put another dent in the remaining 94k or I'll shop for shoes and run on the treadmill after dinner. Either way, the 500k goal has re-ignited the motivation that was sorely lacking for a few weeks.

Okay, so I'm not teh krazy...

There is no way on "God's green earth" (do you remember my love of Survivor? That's a quote from this past week) that I can run over 200km in 38 days.

It was a good thought this afternoon and it got me off of my ass tonight and plowed me through 6.1km on the treadmill, but really?

I can't do it.

I'd likely injure myself.

That's not the real reason though.

The real reason why I can't run over 200km in just 5 weeks is because of two things that are directly related:

1) I like to drink
2) Tis the season

Now don't get me wrong, I can not drink. I mean, I made it through a pregnancy and a year of breastfeeding, but when the reason isn't the health of my kid, I don't like to give up the grog.

So, I've revised my goal.

I will run 500km this year and I started tonight.

I have to run just over 2.9km every day for the next 37 to meet the goal. This means that if I run 6k every other day, I'm gold. If I get out on the weekends for 10k runs, I'm way ahead.

And, I can take those nights off to enjoy the wine/rye/gin etc of the season as well.

I like this plan. I can't wait to see it happen.

Motivation?

If I run 5.6km/3.5mi every day for the rest of the year, I’ll hit my 600km goal.

Maybe that’ll work.