Commitment to the Race

In 2013, I spent four months being completely selfish. I was pursuing a goal to complete the Beach to Battleship Ironman. The commitment I put into that race paid off with a finish time far surpassing my goal time. Soon after that race our lives fell apart and I have spent the past two years pulling our family out of a very dark place. My focus on my fitness was quite honestly non-existent. In the past six months I have played at getting back into race shape but each time I found myself, due to a lack of commitment, falling off the wagon.

Then Chris Russell from RunRunLive asked me to edit MarathonBQ, his training guide for those who are serious about qualifying for the Boston Marathon. In his book Chris writes about the importance of base fitness and although on some level I know how important it is I realized that I had no real base left over. Over the past six months, each time I have tried to get back in shape, I have jumped right into the distances, pushing myself harder than I should have.

Now, after two months of proper base building I am feeling stronger. The base building is not complete but I can feel my fitness coming back enough to start planning a racing season and more importantly I have recommitted myself. I am getting my workouts in, eating the elephant one bite at a time, and moving forward one step at a time.

People talk a lot about will power. I am afraid that more often than not, will power is the wrong thing to rely on. Commitment seems to be the answer. Are you truly committed to your goal? Are you committed to getting from point A to point B? Or have you set a goal that matters to others but not yourself? I have been guilty of that in the past. I have said I wanted to run Boston because so many people wanted me to run Boston. This year though, I am recommitting. I am committing to running a faster marathon and PRing at my half Ironman this fall. I am committed to getting the races in the Annapolis Striders’ Championship Series in. I am committing to focusing on my fitness and coming back from the dark place I found myself in these past two years.

What are you committed to this year?