The difference between goals and desires

A desire is a "want to" and can be described as wanting to run a 10KM race for example. Goals are something that you can attach a timeline to and this makes it more definable and real. A goal would be wanting to run a 10K race at the Scotiabank marathon in September of this year.

Once goals are set then you need to determine a plan of action on how you can achieve this goal. Personally speaking, even though I've done plenty of races, it's not until I sign up for a race that it becomes more of a reality. I've been talking about doing the 32K ITT for weeks but today I officially signed up for it.

Now that my goal is set I can concentrate on a plan that will allow me to achieve that goal. This kind of race will be extremely technical (running on rocks, hill climbs and river crossings)so the more often I can run in the Seaton trail the better prepared I'll be as many of these conditions are found there.

During my run in the trails today I tried to recruit a few of my friends to join me but they aren't sure if they will be free on that day. Now that I have officially committed to this race, there's no turning back now. This race will get me ready for my 50K trail race in September as it will probably take me at least 4 hours to complete.

One of the things that goals do is make you face your fears head on. I face my fears everytime I lace up my shoes. There are times when I ask myself what I'm doing and I wonder if I've taken on too much. Having a definable goal makes you more accountable to yourself and others. You can use fear to motivate or cripple you. I use fear as a respect factor more than anything else. I learned early on when I started running not to take any distance for granted. Some of the toughest runs I've had had been ones where I didn't respect the course enough.

With my running, I'm more concerned with disappointing myself than others but I have a few very close friends who I also don't want to let down. I also know that I have helped to get others involved in running and that excites me as well. Just today one of my clients told me that she went for a run around her neighborhood and I was grinning from ear to ear (Way to go Anita).

My friends are such amazing runners that I feed off their enthusiasm for the sport and this also helps me to keep focused. When one of us reaches a milestone in our running or achieves a new goal we are all genuinely excited for that person.

If you find that your goal is too big then set up mini goals for yourself. Your goals should be attainable but they should also require some work for you to achieve them. When you achieve your goal then try and do two things. The first is to "bookmark" that event or milestone and the second is to set another goal for yourself fairly quickly. Bookmarking allows your mind to recall a particular time in your life when you were able to achieve a certain goal. The more success you can recall the more your mind will allow you to think in a positive instead of negative way. Also, If you have another goal ready then you will be able to piggyback on the success of your previous goal and use that momentum to help you achieve your next goal. Before I'm finished one of my runs I'm already thinking about what I'm running on the next day and the day after that.

I have long range goals (qualifying for Boston when I'm 45), short term goals (completing my 50K trail race in September) and a mid-range goal (completing a 50 Mile trail race in 2008). Along the way, my daily goals are to finish each run feeling like I could continue running forever. Now that I have relaxed more, I'm finding that I'm achieving my last goal more often.

So, what are YOUR Goals and how are you going to achieve them?