Real David H.

Somewhere along the way I stopped being so goal-oriented. I think after the disappointment that was the 2012 Richmond Marathon, I needed to take a break from the intense focus that comes with a time goal.

The dominoes just fell from that point on and ever since then I’ve been taking a wait-and-see-how-it-goes approach.

Well, that will certainly never work if I’m going to want to PR ever again.

A week or so ago as I was finalizing my plans (yes, I actually made a training plan) for the Shamrock Half, I posted something to Twitter about the race. Someone asked me if my goal was a PR.

My response was lame. I said I had to wait a few weeks to see how training was going.

Really? That’s my response these days? While there is some element of truth to that, I can’t wait to set a goal. I have to set up something and then readjust as training gets underway.

If I don’t, then what the hell is my focus?

If I get into training and find that I have to change things, that’s a much easier adjustment than suddenly creating a goal a quarter of the way into things.

So on this 8th day of the year 2014, I’m once again shifting my focus to the Shamrock Half on what I set a couple of years ago, but fell just shy — sub 1:40.

I have some work to do to get there. A lot of work. And less than 10 weeks to do it.

I certainly feel a lot better, though, putting that goal out there and then seeing where things take me over the next few weeks rather than waiting.