RCJ.life

Recently, I decided to go on a quest. Not a find the Ark of the Covenant kind of quest. I would rather not have my head explode. But the kind of quest that is difficult and challenging, but not impossible.

I am going to try to run a marathon or half marathon in every state in the United States.

This very well take me the rest of my life. Probably the best case scenario is to run 2 marathons every Spring and 2 every Fall. That is four races a year. At that pace, it will only take me twelve and a half years to cover all the states. At my current age, that puts me in my 60's. So I would still be running 4 marathons a year into my 60s. And that is the best case scenario. If I cut back to 2 races, I will be still be running in my 70s. Well, a true quest is not supposed to be easy.

Chris Guillebeau writes a lot about quests on his blog and in his book, The Happiness of Pursuit. According to Chris, a quest is defined as:

- “A quest has a clear goals and a specific end point.”

- “A quest presents a clear challenge.”

- “A quest requires sacrifice of some kind.”

- “A quest is often driven by a calling or sense of mission.”

- “A quest requires a series of small steps and incremental progress toward the goal.”

I think running 50 half or full marathons all over the country should qualify. It does for me at least. And I am the only person that counts.

I must admit. I am not the first person to think of this. There is actually a website and club devoted to the 50 state half marathon challenge. I am not that motivated to join the club, going to try this on my own. But it seems motivational if you need some extra motivation to do something like this. I am doing this because I enjoy long slow running and after my Marine Corp Marathon quest completion last year, I could use something else to keep me running, motivated and in shape. Plus, it will have some travel benefits too.

So, here is to my quest. Announced here for the world to see. Best case scenario, 12-13 years. More than likely, much longer. But then that is the fun of it now, isn't it?

I was reading a book the other day about goals and life plans.   I was written by Brian Tracy.  He said something that really struck me as odd, but true.  He said:

Virtually all of us have four main goals in common.  Theses are (1) to be fit, be healthy, and live a long life; (2) to do work we enjoy and be well paid for it; (3) to be in happy relationships with people  we love and respect and who love and respect us in return; and (4) to achieve financial independence so we never have to worry about money again.  Flight Plan, p.8 by Brian Tracy

Think about that.  It is so true.  Have you ever had a personal goal that didn't fit into one of those categories?  Not I.  I have been setting goals for years, and can honestly say that they all fit into one of the above. These appear to be human universal goals, or HUGs.

So, why is this important?  Well, maybe it isn't.  But, then again, maybe it is.

I think it shows that we are all more similar than we are different; that we all want the same things in life - mainly, health, wealth, love, and respect.  Remember that the next time you are watching two talking heads screaming at each other on the TV over some ridiculous issue.  We are all more similar than different.  We all want the same things.  Our HUGs give us away.

That is what I think.  How about you?

Doubt. It creeps up on you. It seeps into your mind. It undermines everything you do.

I am starting to doubt my ability to complete this half marathon. I am struggling. No where near where I was last year. I know it is early in my training. But, to be honest, it has been hard.

Did 5 miles this morning. I should be happy with that, but I am not. I was really slow. My legs and my lungs were hurting. Barely made it to the end. And I am not losing weight this year. Struggles abound.

And here comes doubt. Can I do this? Am I too old? I am nuts to even try this. What was i thinking?

I want to give up. I want to stop and just forget about this whole thing. That is one reason why I have put this challenge out here (and on Facebook, Dailymile, Twitter). Making the challenge public, makes it hard to quit.

So what to do.

One of my favorite movie quotes is from Castaway, Chuck (played by Tom Hanks) had lost everything after being air wrecked on a small atoll in the Pacific. He had even lost the power over his own death. Faced with the power of nothing he recounted:

I knew, somehow, that I had to stay alive. Somehow. I had to keep breathing. Even though there was no reason to hope. And all my logic said that I would never see this place again. So that's what I did. I stayed alive. I kept breathing. And one day my logic was proven all wrong because the tide came in, and gave me a sail. And now, here I am. I'm back. In Memphis, talking to you. I have ice in my glass... … And I know what I have to do now. I gotta keep breathing. Because tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide could bring?

So, I will keep going. Stick with my training schedule. Make it day to day. Because who knows what will happen. Maybe doubt will be chased away.

Day ZERO

Back on the Road! My training doesn’t officially start til Tuesday, but I wanted to get on the road and running again beforehand.

I sat down this weekend and crafted a 16 week plan to complete a half marathon in November. I signed up for the Disney Wine and Dine Half over Chris’ dive championship weekend. 13.1 miles - WOW. Who would have thought that I would even consider such a thing last year when I first started running. Now, I actually think I can do it.

Anyway, the plan is to take a few weeks rebuilding my base, then slowly build to longer and longer runs until I can do 10 to 12. Then I should be ready.

Training starts for real on Tuesday. This week I should get about 11 miles total in - certainly doable - have done it before.

Want to keep this journal as a record of the training and this accomplishment. Also, perhaps some training pointers also.

Lets get it started.