Friday, December 26, 2014

Determined to make further progress toward my running goal, I set out to run 15 miles this morning. Now I’m within striking distance of reaching my goal, but I still have to run more than 28 miles. That doesn’t seem like much, given that we have five more days before 2014 ends. I’ll run each day until I hit my goal. But I’ve got a lot of writing and design and marketing responsibilities associated with PrisonProfessor.com. I feel equally obligated to devote time and attention to those tasks. Carole tells me that I shouldn’t stress so much over reaching the arbitrary number of 2,400 miles. “No one would fault you if you don’t hit the goal,” she tells me. I explain to her that I obsess on hitting the goal for myself, not for others. This commitment to set goals and then hit them carries over from the decades I served in prison. I needed a strategy that would restore some level of power over my life. In prison, the system takes away so much in the way of discretion and control over an individual’s life. I found that by identifying clear goals and then pushing myself to achieve them, I could restore a sense of efficacy. Even though more than 500 days have now passed since I concluded my obligation to the Bureau of Prisons, I still live by this strategy. If I don’t hit my goal I know that I’ll experience a deep sense of disappointment. So I’ve got to keep pushing myself. Running 15 miles felt great today. I won’t be able to run as long tomorrow, as I’ve got to complete a lot of writing. But I am determined to make more progress running, even if it’s only a few miles. Carole isn’t working tomorrow, so I’ll have to balance some time with her, too. Still, I’m going to make progress.

 

Days since my release from prison: 501

Miles that I ran today: 15.41

Miles that I ran so far this week: 39.81

Miles that I’ve run during the month of December: 140.28

Miles that I ran so far in 2014: 2,371.27

Miles that I need to run in order to reach my annual goal of 2,400 miles: 28.73

Miles I’m ahead of schedule to reach my 2,400-mile goal by the end of 2014: 6.07

My weight for today: 168