By Aly Howisey

Probably the most exciting this about the race this weekend is that I’m dancing a fine line between blowing up and being blown away and that’s a product of where the goal is set. And the only thing that stands between the two is confidence. When I was walking home from work today I was listing out all the things in my head that have improved my quality of life. And the one I settled on that’s had the biggest impact is stretch goals. A couple Google snippets I like for elaboration purposes – pushing your limits beyond what was previously achieved; they force us to stretch our capabilities beyond our usual performance; cannot be achieved by incremental or small improvements but require extending oneself to the limit to be actualized.

It sounds a bit dramatic to say the Eugene is my official coming out party for what’s been 2 years in the making and I’ve hesitated even writing these words because then I’m admitting the personal significance and I’ll have to own the results. But it turns out I’m owning more and more and caring less and less about the external noise so there you have it.

From 10,000 feet the race is a bit of an exclamation point on a new job, 1+ year of full on independence, solidifying a strong but small inner circle, living hard and fully, and finding this confidence I never realized I lacked for so long. At 100 feet it’s an exclamation point on 9 pm runs on the long work days and dodging those track etiquette-less morons at Green Lake. In other words, it’s the culmination of a windy road that got me to this place that I never thought I was capable of reaching. Last year at this time I’d made progress, but I was still hobbling my way down Bolyston, dusting myself off from the break up from hell and the femoral stress fracture that went with it, contemplating my next career move. But now? Now I’m declaring my self-determination and ability to achieve the stretch goals. And it’s liberating to make this kind of declaration because it was f****** hard (earmuffs Mother).

So here’s to 3 more consecutive days of telling myself what a freaking bad ass I am so I can end up on the right side of the line for one of the goals not yet reached.

Here we gooooo.

Quote of the week: “The bigger your ambitions are, the more you need help from others.” Full post here – https:www.linkedin.com/pulse/i-were-22-importance-making-people-happy-marc-lore

 

*To read more from Aly, see her Tumblr!