Is There A Limit When It Comes To Setting Running Goals?
Our new blogger Jenn Wilson, who has always met her running-related goals, wonders if there are real limits to running-related progress.
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Meet our new blogger, Jenn Wilson of Am I Really A Runner?
The Limit Does Not Exist
What is the limit? When do we stop pushing ourselves toward that limit? At what point do we let these supposed limits influence everything we do and dictate the decisions we make in our running and our lives?
In my own training, I keep hearing that I will eventually hit a wall. At some point I will stop having PR’s, I will stop getting faster and it will eventually become challenging to find the strength to push forward. I have been thinking about this a lot lately. Over the past few years, I’ve run countless races, had PR after PR, gotten stronger, decreased my mile time and really evolved as a runner. Yet I still face the question of when will I reach the end of this progress and hit my limit? Part of me wants to say that the limit does not exist: that I will keep pushing forward, hit new PRs and continue making the most of my running. Then the realistic side of me kicks in, and I remember that there will most likely not be a time where I will run a 6-minute mile or break two hours for a marathon. Somehow, I will reach a point in my running where I will hit my limit.
Related: Why Some Race Goals Can Be Negative Ones
But how much of this limit is made up in our minds? At what point are we fully accepting some obstruction that someone else or we ourselves have placed on our ability to keep going? Could it be that the limit does not exist if we choose to not let it exist? Think of it this way: what would your life, your career and your running look like if you chose to live it out as if there were no limits to your abilities? You could continue to reach new PRs, allow yourself to get faster, take on the glass ceiling at the office, be the parent or friend you have always dreamed of being, and even believe in yourself in a way you never have before.
When we take the limits out of the equation, we find ourselves in a world open to endless possibilities. It is similar to being a kid answering the question, “What you want to do when you grow up?” As a kid, you have no idea of what it will take to be an astronaut, a lawyer or even a president. However, you are confident that you can do any job–simply because you decided you wanted to. My challenge to you is this: throw out the limits that you and others place on your life and see what happens when you enter a world of endless possibilities. Your life will change in a drastic way when you simple believe that you are important and can do great things–no limits required.
Related:
You Left My Life And I Became A Runner–So Thank You