Setting realistic goals and expectations

Ok, so one of my closest friends has always said that I am the one friend that is “most likely to join a cult” and that really sums up how I jump into things. I am just the type of person who feels the need to jump 100% into something and I tend to become obsessive about things in “my focus” (just ask my spouse).

So now that I have begun my obsession with running and getting myself in shape I have set my goals for 2008 as the Falmouth Road Race and my first Half Marathon in Portland, Maine on October 5th. As a newbie with 3 races under my belt and an average of 20-25 miles per week for the last month I need to STOP AND SET REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS for 2008 and 2009.

So I am confident that I can run 7 mile distance of the Falmouth Road Race or the 13.1 miles of the Half Marathon the real question is whether I can do it when the gun fires and not set an unrealistic goal for myself. My problem is that everybody (that would be people with more experience and miles on the road then me) keep telling me that my first Half Marathon should be run with one goal only and that is to FINISH and that makes so much sense but….

Part of me thinks that if I don’t run with a goal pace or time that I am depriving myself of finishing with some record setting time? So for the Half Marathon I am training using the Hanson Brothers Training plan (http://www.hansons-running.com/) for a Half Marathon. I have chosen this plan because I like the idea that it is 18 weeks (3) Long Runs of 12 miles and (7) 10 mile runs and also includes weekly Strength/Speed and Tempo runs. I think this plan will allow me to FINISH the race but part of me also hopes it will prepare for a sub Two-Hour Half Marathon. So for the Half Marathon my expectation has to be to finish but I am hoping to be prepared enough to run it in less then 2 hours. Does that make me a bad person or unrealistic newbie, maybe but this will be a great way to set the appropriate expectation for the full Marathon in April 2009.

This will be a common thread and discussion that I will harp on and go back and forth on a lot but just look for me selling flowers on the side of the road with all of the other cult members…..

Tim