It's good to have goals

I'm a little late with my training update for last week. Here's the brief recap:

• Sunday, 10/23 - missed the group run (and hats off to Hannah and Michelle for braving the muggy afternoon heat to get their 6 miles in! That's commitment.)
  
• Monday, 10/24 - 3 miles at the track, no walking
  
• Tuesday 10/25 - weight training (squats, lunges, calf raises, bicep curls, abs, shoulder press, chest press, tricep kickbacks, etc.)
  
• Wednesday, 10/26 - 3 miles at the track, 30 sec walk breaks after miles 1 & 2
• Thursday, 10/27 - Tacodeli (I know... not technically training)
  
• Friday, 10/28 - 3 miles at the trail, 1 walk break
• Sunday, 10/30 - 4 miles at the trail with the group (I only walked a couple of times - once on the crazy hill and once when I stopped to take off my long-sleeved shirt. Oh yeah, and once on the spiral ramp on the Pfluger bridge. So, 3 times.) I spent most of this group run trailing the rest of the group, but for a brief number of minutes, due to a navigation error on the front runners' part, I found myself in the lead! I know it was not a legitimate lead, and we are absolutely NOT competing with one another, but I couldn't help being pleased, thinking, "I'm winning! I'm winning!" And then they all passed me. Ah, well.
  

And now about the goals...

3 miles is my current theme. When I head to the gym (or trail) during the week, 3 miles is the goal. Secondary to the 3 mile goal is to do the 3 miles without any walk breaks. Sometimes I am successful, sometimes I am not.

Related to the subject of goals, my trainer has shared with me in the past that I should have three goals for the half marathon: 1) to finish, 2) to do my best, and 3) to finish well. And that I should be satisfied to meet the basic goal of finishing.

That being said, let me share with you my secondary goal beyond simply finishing -- what, for me, I would consider to be "finishing well." I think it's ambitious, and I am hesitant to share it out loud, but here it is:

I want to run the half marathon. That's it. I just think it would be super cool.

But on days like today, when running the 3 miles at the track was a torturous exercise in self-denial, and I did stop to walk, I think it is a crazy goal. Me? Run for 2½+ hours? Ha!

But then I remember (and my trainer faithfully reminds me) that 3 months ago I could not run even one mile, could not run for more than a mere 2 minutes at a time. And yet somehow here I am now, at a point where I can run for 35-40 minutes without stopping.

Which makes me realize .... anything is possible.