Morning Sleepy Heads,
As a little girl, one of my favorite days of the year was the Marine Corps Marathon. My dad would take me to work with him and I would watch as he'd congratulate the finishers noting who was the first female to cross the finish line, the first Nigerian to cross the finish line, the first marine to finish, the first person over sixty to cross the finish line and so on. While he was busy working, I was being babysat by a dozen or so hot marines that were feeding me way too many donuts and hot chocolate. I loved being the center of attention and I loved watching my dad busy at work.
When my dad passed away it only made sense for me to run the Marine Corps Marathon. The ambitious goal made the top of my bucket list. My heart was in the right place, my mind was focused, but my body was like "Are you serious?". Despite all my years of playing ball, I had never run more than 3 miles at one time.
I shared my goal with Ali and she was down to run with me. We came up with a pretty solid plan, let's train for a half marathon and once we accomplish that we'll train for a full marathon. Long story short, training for the half went well. I was blown away at how easy it was to add miles when sticking to the training schedule. The crazy thing about training though is that you never run the full 13.1 miles until race day. Season runners would tell us "If you can run 10 miles, you can run 13.1". What season runners left out was if you can run 10 miles, you'll want to cry and walk the last 3.1 miles.
Race day came and running 13.1 miles was the most physically challenging thing that I had ever done up until that point. On the 12th mile, my knee started to hurt like hell and I became the crazy person that was yelling at herself out loud saying "you are NOT going to walk...you've made it this far....you are NOT going to walk".
I finished. Ali finished. We were proud, we were sore, and we both thought that if running a half was that hard...running a full is double the pain. Gulp.
Plans changed and we decided that we needed to get another half under our belts before full marathon training.
Let me just say it took me about a year of training, but I did. We did it. I balled my eyes out and limped across the finish line having run 26.2 miles at the Marine Corps Marathon.
There's no secret to running a marathon. You put on your shoes, maybe make an incredible playlist, follow a training program and put one foot in front of the other.
The same can be true about any goal we have in life. Simplify your goals, come up with a daily plan and stay the course. I nag myself about keeping things simple with weight loss. "Veronica, weight loss is easy. There's just two components, eating right and exercising, that's it." If I can choose daily to eat right and hit the gym for more than 30 minutes, I'm bringing sexy back. The same can be true about earning your degree, starting your own business, keeping a clean house, making dinner nightly, training for a triathlon, learning a new language, reading one book a month and so on. Write your goal down, simplify it into a daily task and remember why you had this goal in the first place.
Sure, the last three miles might suck, sure you might have to cut back on internet trolling, sure your favorite tv series may have to wait, sure you may need to wake up thirty minutes earlier or hire a babysitter, but goals are achievable if you are armed with a solid plan that is made into a simple daily goal (having an accountability partner isn't a bad idea either).
Random thought: According to StatisticBrain.com and Wiki Answers, less than 1% of the population has run a marathon.
Daily Challenge:
What's that one goal that's been at the top of your bucket list?
Maybe it is a killer vacation outside the country? Saving more? Scuba diving a shipwreck? Moving to a different city? Weight loss? Running a marathon?
Whatever it is, take time to come up with a solid plan. Put in daily reminders to help you stay on course. Ask a friend to check in on you.
There's enough apps, books and experts out there to guide you along the way.
Mildly Obsessed:
It's chocolate, it's delicious and it has a poem inside of every wrapper. I haven't tried all the flavors yet because I can't get enough of the Almonds and Sea Salt in Dark Chocolate. Did I mention that it's organic? Yum!
5K Playlist:
This playlist is approximately 30 minutes and should have enough tempo to keep you in stride for a full 5K. I hope you like my 5K Playlist! Animals - Martin Garrix
Run the World (Girls) - Beyoncé
Kiss Kiss - Cashmere Cat
Work - Iggy Azalea
One - Swedish House Mafia
Run This Town - Jay-Z
Not Myself - Christina Aguilera
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