Now that we’re not graduating from something every couple of years, it’s hard to feel any real sense of accomplishment. This, to me, accounts for the popularity of slow runners participating in long distance races.
For example, if someone were to ask what’s going on with me, I could answer with the fact that I’m training for the Brooklyn Half Marathon. And after May 22, I’ll have a t-shirt that proves that I’ve done something with myself. To be honest, running a half marathon is a very manageable goal. There are some unpleasant long runs involved, but you can prepare for one in like three months and you don’t need to carry water bottles on a belt as you go. Still, it’s a distance that takes some preparation, and with marathon in the title, people are impressed.
In other long term goals news, I think I finished my book. Or, I’m starting to give it to people who didn’t go to college with me. I started this project as a 2008 New Year’s resolution with a blind certainty that I would finish it. And that plan worked out. Weird.
With running a half marathon, the whole accomplishment is doing it. Unless you’re an elite runner, your time doesn’t really matter. In my last half marathon, my time was 14 seconds away from my goal, and so what?
I’m trying to embrace the accomplishment of setting a long term goal like writing book and completing it. My whole New Year’s resolution writing plan was based on the fact that I’d rather fail at publishing a novel than not try. Well, I’ve done that. But what comes next, other than 13.1 miles next Saturday, I’m not as sure about.