Behind...

I'm already behind.

It's only January 30, and I'm behind. I made some resolutions that involved running and blogging, but I've fallen behind in both. But the reason is worthwhile. I spent a week in Honduras last week on a mission trip with a group from my church. I had planned to blog frequently from there, but apparently one cannot access www.blogger.com from Honduras. (One also cannot visit google.com but are instead redirected to google.hn -- Google Honduras)

As for the running, we were too busy, too tired, and too afraid to venture into the streets of Tegucigalpa in order to run during the week.

Some posts from my experiences in Honduras are forthcoming. But I recognize that I am behind...

Late night blog amidst the snow and ice

As I sit at the keyboard on the wrong side of midnight waiting for my sleeping pill to enact its intended effect, I listen. I hear the whoosh of flying snow. I hear the spatter of frozen rain upon my window pane. And I think of this: running is a metaphor for life. I weakly feign surprise when you tell me this is an overdone cliche. But just because something is cliche does not mean it is not true.

Having run the Rocket City Marathon several weeks ago as our last big event of 2010, my friend Terry and I swore off full-length marathons for awhile. (In guy-speak this could mean anywhere from next week to never again) But we did agree to run (with perseverance -- fingers crossed) the Mercedes Half Marathon on February 13, 2011. But how would I handle the transition from one race to the next? Only by reflecting on what I had accomplished (and not) before turning to what I hoped to accomplish in the future.

Looking back, my whole goal was to run the marathon in under 4 hours. But I put some caveats in my training. I only wanted to train 4 days a week. I only wanted to run 500 miles in 18 weeks (unlike the prescribed 600). I didn't want to do speedwork on the track. But I still thought I could make my goal. So what did I do? Did I set myself up for failure? No, I set my self up not to meet my goal. This was not a pass-fail experience. I was shooting for a sub-4 marathon; I ran 4:03. That's not a failure; that's a B+. I did very well for me, compared only to me. The years before 2004 when I did not run or bike or otherwise engage in physical activity -- those years were failures. The years 2005-2008 when I gave up running after a marathon -- failure.

The surest way to failure is not to set out to do the thing that you are supposed to do, that you need to do. So, we see that setting out to do something is the first blow against failure. Once in motion, we need to "count the costs" of our goal. The goal of a sub-4:00 marathon requires a certain number of miles and training sessions. Balancing these requirements with the desire to remain injury-free lead me to the decision to go light on the training. Don't get me wrong -- I put in plenty of miles, and time, and early mornings. Just not enough.

So, what's the point of all this? To self-flagellate over missing a time goal by three minutes? No.

• Did I have a goal? YES
• Did I pick the correct goal in the first place? Was it reasonable? Yes, I think it was.
• Having picked a reasonable goal, did I do enough to meet my goal? No, I think not. I could have done more to reach the goal.
• Am I disappointed with the result? No, not at all. I came close to meeting my goal. It is likely the best I could have done under the circumstances.

Do you realize that I haven't been writing about running for awhile now? This is life. This is school. This is work. This is your relationships. This is your spiritual walk.

So back to running...Terry and I used the recent Red Nose Run as a tune-up for the Mercedes which is in 5 weeks. We pushed it hard, but not too hard. We did well for us. I set a new PR (personal record) in the 10-miler. And we ran a pace that would allow us to break our Half marathon records again...Hey, that sounds like a good goal.

A last bit of advice: don't set your goals too high such that you never meet them...or too low such that you always meet them.

Resolutions

Wow, it's been over a year. Fifteen months to be exact. Too long between blog posts. I've done plenty of micro-blogging (Facebook and Twitter), but nothing that requires any prolonged thought and effort. So, the question is "why?" Why have I not blogged in so long? I want to blog. I want to become a better writer. I want to learn from my experiences and my mistakes. One of the best ways to do that is to stop and examine them. But do I really want to do this? Maybe some part of me does not want to take a look inside. Maybe I'm afraid of what I'll find. Maybe I'm afraid no one will care.

So, I've made some resolutions. Original, I know. But here they are:

1. Study the New Testament. In 2010, I read through the Old Testament using the One Year Bible. I discovered (and re-discovered) many things in my reading. But I did not take the time to really study and reflect. I plan to dwell on the Scriptures. This may take more than 1 year; if that's the case, so be it.

2. Run 1000 miles. To a non-runner, this may sound crazy. But last year, I ran 988 miles. I racked up most of those miles (almost half) in training for my marathon in December. But my running was spotty in late spring and summer. My goal is to be more consistent this year. 1000 miles / 50 weeks = 20 miles per week (allowing for two weeks off). I tend to slack off on my running if I'm not training for a race...which leads me to my next resolution.

3. Run 6 Half-Marathons. I ran 3 half marathons and 1 full marathon last year, so this is only a slight increase. I should always be training for a race without the stress of a full-length marathon.

4. Blog at least once per week. Perhaps Resolutions #1-3 will provide plenty of material for regular blogging. In fact, I know they will. Its just a matter of transferring my thoughts from mind to page.

Feel free to hold me accountable to these resolutions, by the way. If I don't blog, call me on it. If I don't blog about running, ask me how it's going. If I don't blog about NT stuff, ask me about that, too. There are plenty of cold, sleepy mornings when I do not feel like running. But I know my running buddy will be there waiting for me. And that gets me moving.

Here we go...