In professional world, we use “low hanging fruits” often to indicate
tasks that can be easily accomplished while progressing towards a goal.
When I made up mind to run Boston Marathon 2022, I also committed myself to a low hanging fruit, which was running Mayflower Cape Cod Marathon on Oct 31st 2021, as part of my journey to Boston Marathon. Although running a marathon isn’t an easy task for me from any angle, this race route was much easier and flatter that Boston Marathon and hence a low hanging fruit :-)
Because I was confident on my training and knowing this was a flat course, I made an aggressive goal of running at a pace of 10 minutes mile (4 hours 22 minutes) for 26.2 miles.
But I failed; and I failed miserably!
An Aggressive Goal
Having run only once at that pace for 18 miles during my practice runs, I knew it was a tough goal to achieve but I did want to set up an aggressive goal because that’s the only way you can push your limits. And I was also “hoping” for the perfect weather, a great sleep the night before, and many more “perfect” conditions.
Realistic Goals
The fact that I knew that running at that pace won’t be easy for me, I had also set up another target of running at 10.5 minutes a mile (4:35). And finally, if things went completely south, I had a consolation goal for myself for finishing it at 11 minutes pace (4:48). Even though I gave myself plenty of room, I could not accomplish any of these targets :-(
1) 4:22 (10 minutes)
2) 4:35 (10.5 minutes)
3) 4:48 (11 minutes)
I failed, but I am actually celebrating it as a success!
Yes, I failed and couldn’t run at a pace of just 11 minutes a mile, but am still counting it as a success. I am calling it a success
- Because no matter how slow I ran, I still finished the race!
- Because I still ran way faster than my 1st marathon in 2019!
- Because Cape Cod marathon got cancelled but I still managed to run a different marathon on the same day!
- Because I hate running in rain but I ran this marathon in soaking wet shoes!
- Because I am a lot more confident about running Boston Marathon!
- Because I realize how lucky I am to have a friend like Vini, who wasn’t running marathon but came to support me and ended up running with me the last 5 miles when I was about to give up!
Yes I am celebrating my failure, because every failure pushes me an inch closer to success.
Keeping my fingers crossed to be a part of Spaulding Rehab team for running Boston Marathon. I will soon be sharing my 3 reasons for wanting to run Boston.
