Is it really that easy to set a goal?

This is Megan, she's 7 and she's my kid. She's opinionated, smart, intuitive, and indepedent. I know, a stretch, right? I'm still trying to figure out how one question from her has me questioning my goal for Fox Cities Half Marathon.

I had what I'd call a breakthrough run on Saturday and then another yesterday. About damn time too! Saturday was a 15 mile training run and never, ever have I run longer than 13.1 miles. I'm quite fond of my toenails and have no aspirations of running a full marathon. I was nervous for the 15 miler and really hoping one of the training coaches would run with me since my regular running partner was rocking the Madision Mini. During our warmup I strategically planted my butt right next to a coach and said I need you today. Yes - I can and do ask for help sometimes, I guess that wasn't really a question though. He was suppose to go with the 12 milers, but stuck it out with me. There was one other person going long, everyone else was going 12, so it was Deanna, Sam and I. We were at mile 6 before I knew it (not really, I mean it was challenging) then I specifically remember 7, 10 and 13. We hit 13.1 just over 2:21 - that's all the proof I needed to know that I'm in the ballpark with my previously set goal of 2:20 for Fox Cities. The last two miles sucked, but I finished and pace didn't drop off that much. Totally excited, I could not wait to get home to talk about it. I hit up Megan, tell her about my run and she says well Mom, why don't you go for 2:15 at Fox Cities? REALLY? Could it be that simple? Her question really got me thinking.

If I had a more aggressive goal for the Oshkosh Half would I have finished in a little less time? Oshkosh Half was my second half, first half last fall I just wanted to survive, finished in 2:38 and change. My Oshkosh goal was to finish in 2:30 or less, I came in with a 2:25.38. So wanted to kill Jeff who was pacing me through the half. Literally wanted to grab his jacket and say I CANNOT run anymore, need to walk. I can totally remember my thought process. Went out at around a 10:30 pace for the first 6.5. I remember feeling way freaked out that I went out too fast and couldn't sustain. Guess what? I didn't. I even had the 2:20 pacer in my sight between miles 10 and 11, didn't catch him either. Mind you, the conditions sucked, worse I have ever run in. 35 and rain, sleet and snow - wind too. Fun times I tell you. Jeff got me through that one, I would have been walking off and on after mile 10. Overall I was happy with my effort and my PR, but can't shake the thought that I could have done a little better.

I'm a numbers girl, wear my heart rate monitor and footpod for all my workouts. Love watching my heart rate while I'm running, can guesstimate pace based on what my HR is telling me. Yesterday I had a 7 miler on the schedule. Decided to use mapmyrun.com and map out my 7 ahead of time rather than keep looking at my watch to see how far I've gone. The only landmark I had was the Y, at about mile 5. I ran based on how I felt and had another breakthrough run with an overall pace of 10:19 per mile. For 7 miles, what the heck is going on?

I'm not going to question it too much. Hopefully I'm reaping the rewards of this endurance base I've been building for the last 14 months or so. I've also concluded that its beneficial to get out of my comfort zone every now and then. Duh, right? Seems easier to say than actually do. Anyone else out there reap the benefits of operating outside your comfort zone?

My goal for Fox Cities? Right now, I'm holding steady with 2:20 - it would be a pretty decent PR for me and still feel like its a healthy stretch.

Mostly I'm thankful that I'm healthy enough and can make the choice to put myself out there. 2:15 would effing rock though, thanks Megan for putting that in my outer realm of possibility!

pja