I need goals!

Why am I working out? Why am I trying to eat better? Turns out there are a lot of answers to these questions. For my overall health, to get into shape to do more activities this summer, to lose weight, to feel better throughout the day...I could go on. Sometimes, though, I feel like these goals are great, but they aren't concrete enough. For myself, and I'm sure I'm not the only one, it's especially important to have fitness goals. I need to understand why I'm doing something in order to understand if it's even the right goal.

My first goal this season was to get in shape to run the BolderBoulder, a 10K run on Memorial Day. I feel ready for this run, although I might not have quite as fast of a time as I'd hope (I was hoping to beat last year's time of 66 minutes). I've modified my goal to complete the entire race at a running/jogging pace. No walking! Click to check out pictures of me running this two years ago.

That was the first goal, but the other, much more daunting goals, are hiking 14ers this summer. I did this last summer and it is...amazing. Hard, yes. You're hiking 6-12 hours in one day and for a chunk of that time you're over 13,000 feet above sea level. There is just something different about that elevation. Dizzyness, lightheaded, headaches...this can all happen if you're not prepared (and sometimes even if you are). My co-worker has planned 4 of these hikes this summer and I'd like to go on all of them. So...that's a goal.

But I'm not really telling you the whole story. The third of these hikes is actually a week-long trip in August with 5 days of solid hiking during which we'll climb 3 14ers. Yes, 3. And 5 days of hiking. The type of shape that I need to be in to accomplish a hike like this...boggles my mind. But I really wanted to do it.

I started thinking about how rigorous my workout regimen needed to become in order to be ready. I'd be doing intensive training...and a lot of it. What else is something people train intensively for? I can think of a few things, but one of the most obvious answers came to me with a surge of excitement (which may have actually been insanity): a marathon. How do I get in shape to do these hikes? I start training for a marathon at the same time. Yes, I'm nervous. But I'm not more nervous about the marathon than 5 days of hiking.

So I started looking for marathons. I didn't want to do one in the summer because of my extreme sensitivity to heat (we're talking about someone who's fainted from heat exhaustion twice...and not while working out...the heat just isn't kind to my sensitive system) so it seemed like perfection when I learned that Denver is joining the Rock'n'Roll marathon series this year for the October Denver Marathon. October. Yes! October is perfect for running 5+ hours. And it comes about 1 month after the last 14er hike, so have something to keep me motivated until then at least.

I had my marathon. Now I needed a plan. I went online and found a few marathon training plans. I read. I anticipate reading more. But most of the plans I found outlined a 16 week schedule, which would mean my training would start the last week of June. Perfect. I've done all my pre-training getting ready for the BolderBoulder. That gives me another month to switch some of my cardio more towards running!

Having this as my goal is making me feel inspired again. I want to run the marathon for the sense of accomplishment, because it will help me accomplish other fitness goals. Now suddenly even my eating is more involved. The better I eat, the better I'm preparing my body, fueling it properly. Shedding off some weight to make the running and hiking easier on my body.

So, my question to you: what is your goal? I doubt it's a marathon. I'm crazy. But think about it. Finishing a race imbues me with a huge sense of accomplishment (no matter how long or short). So does hiking a mountain. What feels like an accomplishment to you?