Just a Wish.

"A goal without a plan is just a wish." -Antoine De Saint Exupery

Today was a beautiful summer day in Michigan. June doesn't get much better than this. 73 degrees with zero humidity and blue skies. The perfect day for a run. Luckily I had time to squeeze in a workout after work (officially my last day!) before picking up the boys. So Blu (my 1 year old boxer) and I headed out the back door and ran into Stony Creek Park. 

The first mile was a little rough, but I chalked it up to the fact that I wasn't warmed up yet. The second mile was no different than the first. I wanted to take a walk break, and I knew my pace was too fast, but it was only the second mile so I kept going. By the third mile, the negative voice in my head was starting to chime in and taunt me about the 50k ultra marathon that I am planning to run in September. You know that voice, the one that tries to make you think you're not capable of doing the things that you thought you could do.

Here's the thing with those negative thoughts that were going on in my head today; they were pretty dead on. Over the last 9 months I have basically done whatever I have felt like when it came to working out. There has been nothing written down on my calendar to guide me or motivate me to run, ride my bike, or do anything else. If I felt like working out, I did. If I didn't feel like it, I didn't make time for it. My run was hard today because I haven't run in a week! That inner voice was putting me in my place. 

I have a goal to run a 50k in the mountains of Vermont this September with some pretty amazing ladies. We keep joking that if we don't end up being able to do the run, it will still be an awesome girls weekend! But I think I'm done with that joke (sorry girls!). It's time to make a plan and make this happen. I have been saying for the last month that I need to put a training plan in my calendar, but I haven't done it. Today I realized that it is time. If I don't make a plan now, this will end up being just a wish that never came true.

This is the same for all of our goals in life. Whether your goal is to run a 5k, to get a new job, to move to a new house, to be more active in your church, to have a better relationship with your spouse, to lose that baby weight, to complete a 100 mile run, whatever it is, if you do not have a plan of how you are going to reach that goal, then that goal is just a wish.  

Don't be afraid to say your goals out loud. Talk about them. Become comfortable with them. Then write them down and make a list of what you need to do to make them happen. Because there is nothing that feels better than working hard and meeting the goals that you have set for yourself.