My Active Adventures

As many of you know, I am a huge Dallas Cowboys fan; I was in high school during the stretch of the 90's when they won 3 Super Bowls.  Subsiquently, I was a huge Emmitt Smith fan.  He said something in an interview that has stuck with me all these years and has really come into play in the last couple weeks.  He was talking about his goal to become the NFL's all-time rushing leader and that he had set that goal all the way back in high school.  His high school coach had everyone on the team write down their goals for the season at the beginning of each year.  "It's a dream until you write it down. Then it's a goal."   How great of a statement is that??  There is great power in writing down your dreams; that solidifies it and makes it real.  Can you imagine this high school kid dreaming of being the NFL's rushing leader?  Once you have that dream down in writing you can start stratigizing how to get there rather than just hoping to get there. ...

About a year ago I set a huge goal based on inspiring story I read about and heard about.  As runners we always hear about amazing people like Dean Karnazes, Scott Jurek, Michael Wardien, etc.  These people do amazing things and inspire us to do the same, at least they inspired me to do the same.  At the time I'd never ran a marathon, I was still 3 weeks away from my first.  I was full of hope; thought I could do anything in the world I put my mind to.  About 8 months later I'd start to give up on that dream.  It happens.  Over this last weekend I received that same inspiration from a much different and better source.  I now have refocused vigilance to reach that goal. On February 12, '11 I ran my first 20 mile run in my training for my first marathon; the Napa Valley Marathon.  I still can't believe I managed to do that on a treadmill, but I'd done it.  While you train for your first marathon people constantly tell you about "the wall...