Sacrifice
Goal setting is imperative if we want to continually improve and move forward. In order to keep our trajectory going, we must set goals, create an action plan, and work to accomplish what we set out to do. Improvement is an ever-moving target, we can’t simply nail our boots to one area and keep shooting our bow from the same spot. Once we hit the target in front of us, our first goal, a new one is set. Sometimes the next target is a lateral move to the left or right, sometimes a farther distance. Regardless, to keep improving ourselves we adjust, move, and plan to hit the next target.
Most of us are great at setting goals, planning their attack, and working to accomplish them. Sometimes we impress ourselves and surpass even our own expectations, other times we fall short. Sometimes we hit our goal, but it’s a lackluster finale. I’m not here to give any sage advice on how to always crush your goals beyond your wildest dreams, nor am I here to explain how to not have the letdown finishes. What I am here to do is to share some of my experiences and self-reflection that has helped me to realize either why I did not have the euphoric high after my accomplishment.
I have had the privilege to run five marathons. I never set out to run five, I thought I was done after my first 26.2 miles in 2013. I had basically set two goals for myself with this race. Honestly, every race I run, whether it’s 26.2 miles or 3.1, my first goal is to finish. No times, no splits, just finish the run. That goal was met with my first marathon in 2013 and every after that. My second goal was to run 26.2 miles in under 4 hours. I finished in 4:02.
This ate at me. I knew I could finish in under 4:00! So, what did I do? I signed up to run the Chicago Marathon 2014. Just like my training plan from the 2013 marathon, I stuck to a strict(ish) diet, brews by the pool were only indulged in after the week’s long run was complete. Workouts weren’t skipped and were performed with intent. The end result of the 2014 Chicago Marathon...a 3:55 finish!
The next three marathons I ran all had the same two goals: 1. To finish the race. 2. To finish in under 3:55. In these next three marathons, I reached Goal One but was 0/3 for Goal Two. This caused me frustration, confusion, and anger. I knew I was better than my performances. I was a marathon runner, I’ve done it almost a handful of times before completing my fifth in 2019. So why were my times continually climbing a ladder when in my mind they should have been sliding down like Clark Griswold in National Lampoon’s Christmas?
After months of self-reflection, not just on my marathon times and goals with racing, but with ALL of my goals both personally and professionally, I wasn’t invested in them. I didn’t really want to accomplish them. I was setting them because it was what I thought I was supposed to do. I was setting goals on other’s stereotypes and perceptions, not my own.
I may not have been invested in my goals, but that didn’t mean I didn’t work hard to reach them. I trained, got in long runs, but there was something missing, something I acknowledged during both the 2013 and 2014 marathons but none of the others. SACRIFICE.
In the last three marathons I was not willing to sacrifice a social life, comfort foods, pool volleyball, and brews in the sun. This of course had a direct effect on the training runs and workouts I was completing. Instead of training to improve myself I was forcing myself to go through the motions. Since I got out for a few runs this week and I’ve run a marathon or two before I’d be fine. I convinced myself I’d be good and reach my Goal 2. Ok, you got me, I wasn’t convinced, it was just wishful thinking.
Many times what prevents us from reaching a goal the way we envision is not that we don’t have the work ethic, plan, or support system behind us, it’s that we aren’t willing to sacrifice other aspects of our life. Whenever we set a goal we must not only lay out our plan of attack but also list what sacrifices are we giving up. If we are not willing to live our lives without some aspects that have been with us, is the goal something we should be setting out to journey for?
