I didn't make any solid goals at the beginning of this calendar year. On New Years day, Erik and I sat on small boat in a harbor in Queenstown, New Zealand, drinking champagne and talking about our dreams in the next year. We spent 2 weeks traveling over the holidays, checking Fiji and NZ off the list, and my 50th country traveled. (I also ran 100 miles around the South Island in 10 days!) I've never been one for resolutions but I can typically throw out a couple goals for the year - making them SMART by the time my birthday roles around in February. But this year, I wasn't ready to jump in with a plan. I was just happy, I didn't want to rush the process. I'm ready now. And it's time for a big goal. First, I'll mention a couple of the other things I'm working on... Career I've struggled these past few months. I took a new role in December. A big role that I don't really have a background in - aside from building and leading a team, which this role required immediately. So I jumped in. I cried more in 3 months than I did in 10 years of my career previously. It's made my career goals for the next two years pretty clear though. Because I do really like it - so I want to do it well. And get promoted. The hardest sh*t has passed and I'm feeling more confident each day. Life From a life perspective I've taken a step back and considered my routines... or lack thereof. I've never liked the idea of a set routine. I felt like it made me boring. Since I went back to school for my MBA in 2010, I haven't come back to a consistent 'start time' to my day. My two employers I've worked for since graduation believe in flexible work environments and I've embraced every bit of that. The extreme stress in the past few months has forced me to consider my approach and I'm on a mission to find a more consistent daily routine. To help, I've joined CrossFit and attend early morning classes 2-3 days / week. Forcing myself out of bed has been helpful! I also started drinking tea before bed to relax me. I love it and it's trigger for me to slow down. I'm dabbling in meditation and I've been successful in reading more. (Already 15 books this year.) Another thing I determined I needed to work on was cutting back on drinking. Since moving to Tokyo, especially, we've found it very easy to slide into a bad habit of having a drink (at least one) nearly every day. (Not the kind of routine I am aiming for!) It's really easy to do so living here (or any big city, but especially here where it's cheap and a part of the culture). I took 4 weeks off from booze in March/April and feel like it was a great reset. During a time of some of the biggest drinking parties in Japan (under the cheery blossoms!) - I said no. I plan to maintain this lower alcohol consumption level going forward. 40/40/40 Goal Okay, okay, what you clicked on this link to hear about... my big goal. I'm combining a few passions together with some of the necessary things I need to work on and came up with the biggest goal I've ever had. I'm super pumped about it. And super scared. 40 Marathons, in 40 Countries, before I turn 40. Yes. That's in (now, less than) 4 years. FAQs ...but WHY?! Well, why not? Okay that's not an answer. It combines things I love: running + travel, with things I need: a push to maintain a consistent, healthy life style. I'm extreme. (Obviously, this is a crazy-ass goal.) But in the sense of going all in on a training plan, or a lifestyle change. Then I burn out. Having a reason to stay at a healthy weight, with enough muscle, drinking less and eating better helps me. It will also force me to remain relatively injury free so I can't be extreme with my training but I need to be smart and consistent in my running. (And strength + stretching, aka: creating space for healthy aging through my 4th decade.) I want to take advantage of living in Asia (and hopefully Europe in a couple years) by traveling to places that are harder to travel to when not living here. We've gone back to the US SIX times in 15 months living in Japan. We loved those trips because they all involved weddings for our best friends. But now it's time to shift our focus on traveling to other places. Visiting some of our favorite places we've already been, but also exploring new spots. Isn't running that many marathons bad for you? I think racing that many marathons in that amount of time could be bad for you. But I'm going to run them, not race them. I love a time goal. Qualifying for Boston for the first time back in 2015 was a goal I thought would be the top of my run-goals list. It was huge. But I didn't stop there. I'm now a 7x BQ runner and even landed on the podium in a marathon last year. (Seriously, 2nd place in a marathon?! I never even dreamed of something like that. It was a PR marathon of 3:13 at the end of a 70 mile week. Literally pinch me - I did that!?) But this PR took a lot of work. I trained 60+ miles a week for months. I was all in. And I don't want to go all in on training blocks just to knock a few more minutes off a PR. At least right now, it doesn't excite me enough to keep doing that twice a year just to chip away at it. I ran the Tokyo Marathon in March this year. I had basically stopped training for it 8 weeks out due to a small nagging injury. Add on the stress at work and I couldn't drum up the excitement to jump back into hard training. I toed the line after scrapping together 2 weeks of 35 miles leading up to it (including a couple long runs and no speed or tempo work)... and I had an awesome time!! I negative split a marathon! Coming in at 3:27 (still a BQ!) with a smile on my face in the pouring rain. This was the first spark of an idea that my running goals could look different... that maybe I could simply maintain a reasonable fitness level and run marathons as long runs...for FUN?! How are you going to afford this?! Yes, traveling is not "cheap" - but I've chosen to prioritize travel in my life for years. Visiting 40 countries in 4 years, let alone running the marathons, will definitely require a close eye on our spending in other areas - but it's honestly not unreasonable if you live in Asia and/or Europe. Also... I've actually already accomplished this level of travel at another point in my life. From 2010-2014 I traveled to 44 countries. And I was a hell of a lot less financially stable than I am now. But I had time to travel via an extended backpacking trip through SE Asia and Europe - crashing with friends or sleeping in hostels for $10/night. I could afford to spend the time for an 18 hour bus ride for $16 as opposed to a 2 hour flight for $300. So while I can now afford the flights and to use Airbnb instead of hostels... I also need to balance that out with work and the fact that I can't just leave for weeks on end! I love trip logistics planning and am great at finding a deal. I don't love to stay in fancy hotels and will willingly fly a budget airline in coach if it means I can travel to more places. Living in Japan we get over 15 paid holidays per year + 20 days of time off. If you spread that over long weekends... there is plenty of time to book in a trip a month. This plan is also contingent on us moving to Europe at some point in 2021. There are a lot of countries that are very inexpensive to get to that host a lot of races over there. When do you start?!
Already did. As Tokyo planted the seed of inspiration, and it was a couple weeks after my 36th birthday, it seems like it was meant to be. Because of some pretty extensive travel back to the US already this year, I'll be taking 2019 as my warm-up year. (And I'm nowhere near ready to run a marathon right now!) My next marathon is scheduled for August in Cambodia (new country for us!). And I'll do 4 others in 2019, for sure Berlin and tentatively planning on a marathon in Poland (very slow the weekend after Berlin), Thailand and Taiwan. This is just the beginning of a big journey that I will document along the way. Getting older just got even more exciting! #elizas40in40before40
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AuthorA Midwest girl gone global. I choose happiness everyday: I run, eat well, travel, and love completely. Archives
March 2022
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