Jean's Blog

Reaching A Goal

Posted by Jean

I’ve been talking for many, many (many) years now about running a marathon.  How many? About 15.  I was training for the New York City Marathon with a friend and had even completed a 20-mile training run when I got pregnant with my first.  I was able to run for the first five months of the pregnancy, but the marathon was out.

Over the years, I have talked about trying again.  I’ve signed up.  I’ve started training.  For one reason or another — it’s difficult to get those really long training runs in when you have kids, my confidence was shot, I was tired! — I never made it. 

So this year, I set a different goal.  A smaller goal.  A half marathon.

My friend Diane and I were already running a few days a week, completing roughly 4 to 6 miles at a shot.  She agreed to do it with me.  For a long time, we didn’t tell anyone.  Instead, we just started adding a mile here and there.  One Saturday we did 7 miles.  Two Saturdays later, we did 9.  Eventually, we ran 11 and started admitting to people that we were — in fact — in training.

And today, in the 85 degree heat (so hot, the race organizers cancelled the marathon that was supposed to run parallel with the half) we — and some 9000 other runners — competed in the More and Fitness Magazine half marathon.   We didn’t break any records.  The “elite” runners in the race finished their second loop around central park before we finished our first.   But we did it!  13.2 miles in 2 hours and 20 minutes.  We felt great.

And for me finishing was a reminder of the importance of not trying to overreach — when it comes to any goal, even a financial one.  Researchers at Old Dominion University recently published a study noting that one big reason why middle class Americans don’t save money is that they set the bar too high.  They aim to save thousands rather than hundreds, for instance.  And because they can’t hit their original mark — like my full marathon — they quit having accomplished nothing.  Savers who aim lower — for the hundreds, for instance — end up saving more actual dollars in the end.  And, more importantly, being able to revel in the fact that they did it.  They finished it.  They accomplished it.  They could cross it off their list, take the satisfaction in that accomplishment, and move onto the next goal.

It is an important life lesson for me — and busy people everywhere who are often tempted to bite off more than we can comfortably chew.  So for me, no full marathon next year.  But perhaps another half.  Two hours and 10 minutes, this time?

And for you?  What do you want to cross off next?