I just finished reading my last entry and realized it has been almost three whole months since I wrote for this blog. Shame on me. My entries so far this year have focused on goals… specifically my goals. Last time out I referenced my five goals and my progress. For those of you who haven’t been keeping up at home or too lazy to read my last two posts, here are my 2013 Goals:
1. Be more positive in everything I do. (In progress)
2. Eliminate all unsecured debt. (COMPLETE)
3. Take another real vacation. (Kinda-sorta)
4. Run a half marathon this year (COMPLETE)
5. Being Mario Mendoza (Steady as she goes…)
Last time I wrote it was right before I ran my first half marathon in April. I really should have taken the time to write a blog entry about the experience, but I did not. I completed my first half with an official time of 2:22:24. That was 2 seconds slower than what I was aiming for. Not bad for a 13.1 mile run, but I know I can do better.
So what’s next?
The best thing to do when you reach goals is to celebrate them and then move on by setting new ones. I completed goals #2 and #4 early in the year. I originally intended to run my first half-marathon sometime later this Fall, but peer pressure pushed that time frame up. The elimination of all unsecured debt was actually a left over goal from last year. So two goals complete means two new goals to set. So what are they?
1. Put at least 15% of after tax income into savings
That sounds like a lot of money to put back, but its essentially re-purposing the money I was spending to pay off debt and just putting it into savings. I’ve actually been doing this since March. I still use my credit cards several times a month for sizable, planned purchases. However, I always pay them off before the next cycle. The second goal is a bit more crazy…
2. 8 Half Marathons in 8 Months
I know some of you probably just read that goal and said “What the…” To be honest, my plan was to run a full marathon before the end of this year. However, I decided that I wanted to work my way up to running a marathon so that I wouldn’t just treat it like a bucket list item and only do it once. Since my first half-marathon, I’ve continued to run… even in these awful summer months. I was training, but I wasn’t sure for what…
About two weeks ago, I noticed the Birmingham Track Club sponsors a “Triple Crown Half Marathon Challenge.” Three half-marathons in three months. I looked at the line up and realized that none of the races would interfere with college football or Montevallo plans. So I contacted my running buddy Ash and he said he would join me in the challenge.
Then I started looking at other races I wanted to run in the cooler Fall/Spring months and I realized that I could easily find at least one half-marathon every month all the way through April. Then the most dangerous thing started happening, I started scheming… I talked to a couple of my trusted and much more advance running friends and they told me that I should be capable of this feat as long as I stayed injury free. They told me as long as I don’t try and push for a full marathon during this time I probably would be alright… Probably. You have to remember, some of these people run 18 miles once a week and call it a Sunday run.
So my own personal challenge was born. 8 half-marathons in 8 months. This will be a bit of a challenge for me, but I feel like it will push me to be a better runner and continue to stay in shape. It will also help me push for a full marathon next fall. So here is my race schedule for the next 8 months. The first three races are set in stone as well as the Mercedes. The rest are tentative.
September 22, Talladega Half Marathon
October 12, Montgomery Half Marathon
November 24, Magic City Half Marathon
December 7 or 29th, Panama City Half Marathon
January 12, Servis1st First Bank First Light Marathon, Mobile
February 16, Mercedes Half Marathon, Birmingham
March – Tuscaloosa or Seaside Half Marathon
April – Homewood 4.13 Half Marathon
My plan is to keep a running journal about this challenge on this website. I’m either going to really like running after all of this or I’m going to take up cross-stitching or crotchet instead. Now for my challenge for you…
So what is the challenge for you?
Many of you know that I started writing about college football two years ago during my exploits with the Tiger Tail Team Van. The best thing to come out of that whole experience was that I started writing again. My Tales from the Road segment was well read on the Tiger Tail Team website as well as at the AUFamily website. When it became impossible to continue on with the Tiger Tail Team, I decided to continue on with my favorite part of writing, which was the predictions. It appealed to me because my non-Auburn friends were reading it.
Last year I decided to start a website based solely on predicting SEC football games in a humorous manner. I named it JP’s Politically Incorrect Predictions. Without the help of my friends Ryan, Ash, and “Honest Abe” I would have never been able to get it off the ground. When it was all said and we produced 47 articles and had over 30,000 visitors to our page. Not bad for a website that doesn’t have any advertising.
We want to grow the website even more this year, but we need your help to do it. Last year most of our traffic came from a small handful of individuals sharing our stuff on SEC message boards. Despite numerous likes, comments, and returning visitors, most people failed to like our facebook page and were dependent on the same people to provide them with weekly links to our articles.
Here is my challenge to you…
If you read and enjoy our “Politically Incorrect Predictions” and other stories please like them, share them, and help us grow. We aren’t doing this website to make money, but to have fun. We realize that not everyone is a college football fan or enjoys our type of humor. But if you do, please help spread the word. Most, if not all of you have family, friends, co-workers, or enemies that would get a kick out of what we write. Besides, it’s much easier to write when you know you have hundreds if not thousands reading your material as opposed to dozens of people. So please help us out if you can! And if you already are like my friends Chris, Michael, and Jamie… we are truly thankful. If you didn’t see one of the twenty links to our website, here is another one for you.
Until next time…
Final Thoughts on a First Impression 