Goals and motivation for 2013- Reasons for running

As we approach 2013 and wrap up 2012 every takes a little time to look back on the past year and forward to the next. I have many goals in mind for 2013 and I know so does everyone else, many involving the 13 in 2013 challenge, Jill and I would love to hear these and why you are choosing to take on this challenge. If you are interested in sharing please email me your story.

Here is Clea's reasons for running and joining 13 in 2013, thanks for sharing...

I am super thankful for the opportunity to do a guest post.  I don't really have a good reason for why I run other than I just always have.  I started running in high school doing cross country and track.  Cross country is truly a beautiful sport and I think that's where I developed I love for just going out and enjoying a pretty run.  I just got in the habit very young of starting each day with a run.  It's really part of my personality now and my morning doesn't feel complete without it.  High school was intense competitive running with two a day practices, so post high school I didn't race.  I just ran 5-8 miles a day.   I did this for years.

I started racing again when I was about 24.  Here in Austin we have tons of well done races, and I started with a half marathon.  I quickly morphed into a marathoner, and the long runs really spoke to my roots of enjoying just getting out there.    My marathoning progressed from one a year into  2-3 a year, and into running the Boston marathon.  After a couple Boston's I started looking for the next challenge and took up ultra running.  I had always read about it but never thought I could do it.  What convinced me was the fact we had one of the top 50 milers in the country, the Sunmart 50 mile run,  here in Texas (unfortunately this race is no more).  I convinced a friend to join me, and we started down the slippery slope of ultra running which only leads to lots or racing and time out on the trails.  I did ultras for about 4 years racking up finishes in just about every distance up to a 100 miler.  100 miles was really not the distance for me, and after I had my son in 2010, I declared myself retired from ultra running and went back to marathoning.  I've been doing about 3-4 marathons  year, and pretty much just focus on having fun now.  I became a masters runner this year, and have definitely gotten slower with age.  My goals have shifted from hitting goal times, to running honest efforts and staying injury free.   Over the last few years I also discovered yoga and it is now a huge part of my training.  I generally just do easy runs M-F and then a long run over the weekend.  I take one off day of no running every week.  It's a simple formula, but works for me.

I am doing the 13 in 2013 challenge mainly to connect with other bloggers.  I have had my blog for awhile but haven't done the best job at using it to connect with other runners.  I run by myself a lot and miss the camaraderie I used to get meeting up with running friends.  Now I base my runs around my family time, so I often and up very early knocking out the miles before my family is up.  I have managed to meet a few running bloggers along the way and have ended up meeting  a couple bloggers at races.  I would love to meet more!  I will be aiming for a variety of distances with the challenge.  I've already got a marathon or two planned and my goal race is a 50K (I swear that is as far as I will go!).  I plan to fill in gaps with the virtual races, and some family 5Ks, which we have just started doing this year, as my now almost 3 year old, loves the kids' 1Ks that come with them.   I am looking forward to a year of racing, staying healthy, and meeting other runners!

Clea blogs at Pancakeiscute.wordpress.com be sure to see what she is up to in 2013!