I finished my first ultramarathon. It was an amazing adventure. The journey began by setting a goal at the end of last year and ended when I crossed the finish line on Saturday. I really enjoyed the race. It was wet, muddy, and slippery, but I find it very hard to complain when I only ran 31 miles. There were others running 50 or 100 miles. They were just getting warmed up when I was finishing. I say “warmed up,” but it was about 55 degrees when I finished (some 10 degrees cooler than when we started).
I am excited that I accomplished my goal, and I wanted to share with you the three things that helped me get there.
- Focus is a critical component to meeting any goal. I focused a lot of my free time on training. I ran over 350 miles in the two and half months leading up to race day. If you try to focus on too many things at one time, there will be things that slip through the cracks or drop from the radar. There were a lot of things that were left behind in my personal life because of the increased time I spent running, which is why the next tip is so important.
- If you lack support, it may kill your ability to achieve a goal. My family fully supported me. My wife took up the slack while I trained, my younger daughter wrote me a note of encouragement on my packing list, and my older daughter wrote five notes for me to read and be inspired by at various points along my journey. Although they were not cheering me on as I ran, they were in my heart and mind. Their support gave me strength, which is the next tip.
- Strength is an essential element if you want to smash your goals. If your goals are hard enough, you will test your strength, both mentally and physically. I was tested many times during my ultra, but I overcame the obstacles and smashed my goal. Physical strength may not seem important when it comes to fighting fraud or reaching a business goal, but it is essential. When you build physical strength, your mental toughness grows to new heights. You will also be healthier, which gives you more strength to tackle bigger goals.
Completing this ultra was only one of my 2016 goals, which were included in a previous post. As you can imagine, I have been spending a lot of time focused on running and preparing for this ultra, which means my other two goals have taken a back seat. I have made some progress toward my other goals, but now is the time for me to focus on them.
Set your next goal and use these three tips to knock it out of the park! (I hope it relates to fighting fraud.)
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