My Goal For 2015: A Better, Fitter Me

It's the time of the year when everyone it seems sets goals, vows to make changes, yada yada yada.

Don't get me wrong. I strongly believe that goals are important. You need something to strive for, to challenge yourself. Otherwise, you will become stagnant, stay the same or simply become a shell of untapped potential.

My only 'beef,' if you will, is this notion that because it's January 1 and a brand new year, one should be setting new goals and that this is the only time to do so. This should not be.

Goals should be ever changing and an on-going process. Goal-setting should not be limited to one time of the year.

Goals are meant to inspire, invigorate, push a person to become a better version of themselves. To confine goal-setting to one time of the year is to put limits on yourself.

I say all this not to decry all the New Year's resolutions. Never do I want to discourage anyone from goal-setting and challenging themselves. But for me, personally, I prefer to continually add to the list, especially as I cross some off.

Shooting From The Hip: Conquering My First 50K - The Pistol Ultra

I drank the ultra koolaid, and I LOVED it!

On Saturday (Jan. 3), I conquered my first 50K at the Pistol Ultra in Alcoa, Tenn. And to be quite honest, I'm struggling on writing this post as I can't seem to find all the words to describe what an amazing journey this was.

Words that come to mind when thinking about my experience include: fun, challenging, painful, exhilarating, amazing, mind-blowing, and a party.

Heading into this race, I truly did not know what to expect. I really did not have this race on my radar. Sure, I had thought about running it 3-4 months ago, but I let the idea slide as I focused on my marathon which was on Oct. 25. Then after my rough experience at the Spinx Carolina Marathon, I told myself I wanted to take a break from the long distances for a while. Nothing past 13.1 miles for at least the next six months is what I promised I hold myself to.

I even told my lovely bride that I wasn't going to run a marathon until at least late in 2015 or early 2016. (Technically, I didn't lie.)

But as I noted in a recent post, my friend Chris was trying to get his running mojo back and thought running the Pistol Ultra 50K would do the trick. Consequently, he asked me to join him in the fun.

2014 - My Year In Running

Running is gift. Enjoy it.

We've reached that point in the calendar when we look back on the past 365 days.

To say 2014 was a roller coaster would be an understatement. There were plenty of highs mixed with a number of lows.

Here were my goals for 2014:

• Sub-4:35 marathon
• Run an ultramarathon
• Sub-2 half marathon
• Post a 200-mile month
• Run 1,800 miles for the year

Guess how many I accomplished? None. Nada. A big-fat goose egg.

Does that mean the year was a waste or not a success? Absolutely not.

Sometimes You Just Have To Say What The Heck

By now, you've read or heard how rough marathon No. 5 was. It wasn't a pretty race. It drained me, and running was not as much fun as it used to be. While I took it nice and easy during the race and enjoyed the journey, that marathon took a lot out of me physically.

Coming back from Greenville, S.C., I was looking forward to recovery and taking a break from running. Not running for a week really appealed to me at the moment.

In fact, I ended up taking nine days off.

And it was glorious.

It was rather nice to run without any pressure of a race coming up. Just lace up the shoes and run for fitness and for the enjoyment of it.

But then, something changed.