Expect Great Things

Today marks five years to the day I first started Kikay Runner, the blog! What started out as a way to keep me honest and motivated through my first marathon has grown into something I never expected. I never knew that my story would engage so many of you and act as inspiration for your own adventures in running and eventually multisport.

Kikay Runner in 2015

If there’s anything I learned from keeping a blog like this, it’s that writing a goal down makes it concrete in your mind. And then you have to do something about it.It becomes more of a real thing that you can’t back down from eventually achieving — which is why in the past I’ve been so shy about telling all but my closest friends what I really want to accomplish (qualifying for Milo Marathon finals, doing my first half-ironman, doing Challenge Roth, etc.). I used to be afraid that if I said my goals out loud and it didn’t happen, I would be a failure. And then I realized: we don’t often allow ourselves to dream big, and I think this is really what limits what we can accomplish. Even worse, we don’t allow others to dream big either…

When I was a kid, someone told me a hypothetical “what-if” story: if I were walking through a wood and came upon a house with three doors — one small, one medium, one large — which door would I enter? When I picked the medium door, they told me I had medium-sized ambitions for myself.

Let me tell you now, take the large door! Don’t be afraid to want something that seems just a bit out of reach where you are at the current moment. There is nothing wrong with most of the things we want to accomplish (barring the illegal or unethical), and you have that desire in your heart for a reason. So what’s stopping you from going out and attempting to make your dream a reality? I’m not just talking about athletic achievements here; this is something that you can apply to how you live life and approach what you value most.

This year I’m going to do these three things:

• Qualify for the 2016 Ironman 70.3 World Championships.
• Break the 6-hour mark again in a half-ironman.
• Race outside the country somewhere I haven’t yet.

To commemorate my blog’s 5th anniversary and make this website easier to read and navigate, I’m currently working on a redesign. I’m really liking it and hope you will enjoy browsing once I implement it in a few weeks’ time.

I’ve also got some other plans on my plate, not least of which is to work towards becoming a capable coach and mentor for beginners. This is something I’ve been doing as a side project but I do want it to be legit at some point.

Now that it’s out in the open, I have to go do something about it! 🙂 How about you: what are your goals for the year?