The right mindset for your goal
Goals, like runners, come in all shapes and sizes. Each run I do, I try to have an idea of what it is I want out of this run – am I running for endurance, speed, hill strength, or just an easy recovery run? A short-term goal.
Then there are the mediumterm goals, mostly based on upcoming races.
Most importantly, I have my eyes set on a longer-term goal of still running when I’m old(er) and grey(er).
I’ve run for as long as I can remember and I still want to be doing it for years to come, so I try to make sure nothing compromises the possibility of that – I don’t want to run myself into the ground chasing a short or long-term goal.
Of course, plenty of runners have far loftier goals. Next year is an Olympic year and so, among the elite of the elite, many will be dreaming of glory in Tokyo.
I’ve been lucky to report from three Olympic Games and experience the electrical charge that lights up a stadium when a runner becomes a champion and achieves the most momentous of goals.
I cannot begin to imagine what it takes for those runners to dream of such a bold goal, let alone set about achieving it. I’m in awe.
This week on the Dirt Church Radio podcast, co-host Matt Rayment and I celebrated trail runners who’ve had incredible years in 2019.
There’s one who has taken a whole year to do it.
Mal Law is based in Wa¯ naka with his wife, Sally. They’re probably the most well-known folk in the New Zealand trail running community thanks to their online trail community, Wild Things, and the challenges Law has taken on in recent years.
In 2009, he set off to become the first person to run seven of the Great Walks in seven days. Other adventures have included the South West Coast Path in the United Kingdom, running
1700 kilometres around Wales and, most audaciously, his attempt to run 50 mountain marathons in 50 days in 2015, taking a band of fellow redshirted runners with him.
As well as running feats, they have also been fundraisers for the Mental Health Foundation.
This year, he set his sights on something different. Starting on January 1, Law aimed to climb
1 million vertical feet (304,800 metres) in 12 months, running and walking any mountain and hill he could find.
That’s the equivalent of 1640 times up Auckland’s Sky Tower, or 87 Everest summits.
We caught up with Law when he had a couple of weeks to go and he acknowledged how challenging this goal had been – and not just because of the physical challenge.
‘‘It’s very different to all the
other ones I’ve done before. So where they have been concentrated into a period of time – and I’ve had people around me and intense publicity around it – this one has been much more in the background, me against myself.’’
It’s meant he has had to be kinder to himself, to be more patient.
‘‘I’d say it’s just learning not
to beat myself up. I’m still very goal-oriented, but, sometimes, I’ve had to let the goal slip into the background and live normally around it.’’
When we caught up with him, he was still on track, though every day was going to count, right through to the finish line.
I admire the way that Law has been able to reflect on the different approach required to tackle this goal.
Every time we set our minds on something, it requires a different mindset to achieve it. Sometimes that means being singularly-focused, other times it means keeping the goal in perspective.