Goals & Mt Mist Recap

Well I am finally getting around to posting about Mt Mist.  Overall, I was very pleased with my results this year.  My goal was 5 hrs and I finished in 4:51 for 10th place overall.  To be honest, the couple weeks going into the race we had a lot of rain and I thought the course was going to be slow due to the mud.  My training was a little lack luster as well.  In the two months building up to the race I had only built my weekly mileage up to around 40 miles and that was not even consistent.  So in my mind I was thinking anything under 5:10, I would be pleased with.  I was basically altering my goal before the race even started.  The night before the race I looked back over my last post and made my cheat sheet with split times at the aid stations for a 5 hr. finish.  Here they are: 

1.     50-53 actual  53:07
2.   1:40    actual  1:37:53
3.   2:30    actual  2:27:26
4.   3:07    actual  2:59:40
5.   3:53    actual  3:44:09
6.   5:00    actual  4:51:25

 Wow, I did not realize until just now that I actually did run a negative split on the second half.  The truth is I fell apart after Waterline (later part of section 4).  When setting my goals I figured I would be going much slower due to the lack of training and knowing the second half is harder.  For those of you that aren't runners or have never done Mt Mist the first 3 sections are what we call the first half, which is ~17 miles.  That means the second half is only about 14 miles.  Most people run the second half slower because it is more difficult plus there are two major climbs.

So you may be thinking that is not much of a race report.  Well the truth is I wanted to talk about goals.  When you set goals in life do you look at what you know you can do or do you look at what you think is possible?  It does not matter if it is running, work or life....DREAM a little.  Do not let the goal scare you! Just look at where you want to be, when you want to be there, and then plan it out.  With enough time you can accomplish ANYTHING!!!!  Just a couple of other suggestions, once you plan it out write it down and share it with others.  This is one way to hold yourself accountable.