Recycle or start a fresh ?

As December roles around, I'm already thinking about next year's goals and what should they be. This got me reflecting on those goals I had set for this year and I can't actually find any! 

I was convinced I had set some but it looks like I never committed them to blog paper.  So, is this like the tree that falls in the forest if no one see's it does it make a sound?  As I didn't write them down, was I really committed to them?? 

Ok so my unofficial targets were:

1. Set a new PB for the Marathon
2. Get a qualifying time for automatic entry in to London (GFA), 
3. Silver medal at the Potters arf, which means finishing under 1:45 on a very very hilly course
4. Go under 23 minutes for Hanley parkrun 
5. Set a shiny new half marathon personal best

Did I achieve all or any of these? 

Well, I set a new marathon PB of 3:43:28 ( goal 1) which gained automatic entry to Virgin Money London Marathon 2015 (goal 2).  Read all about it here

The rest sort of fell by the wayside, but perhaps we have unearthed the reasons why I didn’t achieve them because I did commit them to my blog, which meant I had nothing to prove and no-one to hold me accountable!

So my the big question is do I a) recycle these goals for 2015 or b) set these to one side and think of some new ones? It is clear I need goals but perhaps it would be an idea to stage them, rather than setting them all out in one go, use them to build on and improve my running??

Best get my thinking cap on

Time to stop

After a week off running following my sinus surgery, I went out for my run last Tuesday and as the 1st mile clicked by I could see that my pace was low and my mind went straight to all the excuses I could prefix my run with when I uploaded it to strava later.  

This then got me thinking when we upload our runs to the world wide web, via Garmin Connect, Strava, Fetch etc etc you see people prefixing their run with #recovery or #feelingtired or #heartratetraining as if we are trying to excuse our time or pace.

Perhaps it is just me but I spend too much time during my run thinking about what is this going to look like on strava,  to my running friends that it takes the enjoyment of the run and my run falls in to two baskets good / bad.  This is all based on what I think other people will think of my pace rather than if I am actually enjoying my run. 

When I started out running I enjoyed running; lacing up my trainers, getting out in the fresh air after being couped up  in a stuffy office all day and having some time and space to relax was just bliss, but in the last few months  I have lost a little bit of the sparkle. 

I know I could give up my Garmin (other good running watches are out there) but I feel it is a set too far and I'm a sad stato so instead I have decided to stop  prefixing my runs with anything other than good, bad, I needed that, now where is my cake/wine/chocolate.  I 'm also going to try to start to log more sensory information about how I felt during the run, which should service to help me understand my body a little. I am sure it will make me more happy, bring a spring back in to my step.

On another note 

You may have noticed that I had sinus surgery which meant that I had to take a week of running while I recovered from surgery, which means I couldn't take part in Go-vember this year. 

I am still taking part in XC and Saturday was my 2nd one of the season and I have to say it was a toughie course hilly and quite technical and you can tell from my face that I was not really a fan, but now and again we need to get out of our comfort zone now and again!