I've never been one to set goals. I set out to be happy and have based my life decisions on that. There was no finish line, no time limit. No real way to measure if I was effective or not. No long term planning, and most importantly, no failure. If I was unhappy, I just made a different decision and got happy. Easy peasy.
I'm trying to think back, and haven't come up with anything that nears Ironman from a goal setting perspective. It's so very clear the work that needs to be done and success or failure hinges on 17:00:00. Period. I don't know of one person who attempts their first Ironman and doesn't say all they want to do is finish. There may be more goals, better times, podium desires, improvement of effort, but the first desire is always to finish. There is some satisfaction in knowing how black and white that is.
Here I am, a non-goal setter, just coming down from a goal-intensive year looking for something else to do. Turns out I kind of like goals. Who knew?! I know my knees can't handle much more, so running is out, which makes triathlon a fading sport for me. I used to play softball, but that was more social. Tennis was fun, but darn knees are in the way again. Everything seems just a bit anti climactic.
Some ideas I've been tossing around:
- Participate in the AIDS Ride California biking from San Francisco to LA
- Check out long distance swimming in Hawaii www.hawaiiswim.org/hawaiianChannel/rules.html
- Take up outrigger canoeing in Hawaii
- Paddle the length of the Mississippi
You'll have a good time doing AIDS Ride California. I've done 4 AIDS rides and enjoyed every one of them. Paddling and Swimming sound pretty cool too! Have you ever thought about doing some more in-line skating? I wonder if you could combined that with an MS or Parkinson's event? Whatever you do, I know you will give it 100%
ReplyDelete