January: Desire

   You probably know to be careful about what you wish for in love, work, and children. These answered prayers have a habit of biting you in the rump. Too often we make the same mistake when setting goals for our training programs. Through folly, blind hope, or some unrealistic desire, we sabotage ourselves by aiming for the wrong things.

   You can see how this happens when your running program comes up for review. The New Year, with its solemn resolutions, makes an auspicious time to reassess, especially because it urges us to reflect on what's possible and, more significant, on what brings us joy in running. Yet often this is the only time we reexamine our goals - the first mistake. Two better occasions: after a success and after a failure. Both experiences are loaded with information. Both provide a hard reality check. Take advantage of them, whenever they occur on the calendar.

   Another self-sabotaging mistake is to set goals according to ends rather than means. This is counterintuitive, since the word goal, after all, implies accomplishment. But when the Maui Marathon is circled as your goal, illness or schedule conflicts can intervene. Results fail to materialize. You're less likely to fail if you establish weekly and monthly mileage objectives that will prepare you for the marathon, regardless of whether or not you run it. You have more control over these factors. The same is true of weight-loss and speed goals. Focus on the frequency and types of workouts that let you shed pounds or seconds. The end results will take care of themselves.

   By the way, if it can't be measured, it's not a goal. A New Year's resolution to "run more days during the week" is a prayer of good intentions that is up for negotiation on every icy morning that you glance at your running shoes. A resolution to "log 30 miles a week," however, requires a commitment and a plan. It imposes the kind of discipline that keeps any training program vital.

   While discipline matters, joy and exuberance keep us running. These blessings are also fraught. It may surprise you, but the fitter you are, the less room you have to improve. It's a cruel twist - often overlooked - but just as you reach the peak of physical condition, you'll actually have to lower your aspirations, or change them, anyway; as with the realities of aging, this means looking for gratification other ways. Facing limits is an important life skill. Get used to it.

   Joy and exuberance also fail to take into account your history as a runner. Past accomplishments (and failures) must inform the goals you set for the New Year, but they shouldn't become a tyranny. The miracle of running is that with each workout, each step, you are becoming a different person - stronger, certainly, but also more invested in life and the possibilities it holds. Imagination and desire should drive your goals as a runner. They should drive your goals as a human being. Let them run wild.