Are You Embracing the Chase?

Someone recently asked me, “What happens if you catch Helen?”

“Haha,” I said. “That will never happen.”

Why?

Because I will always be chasing Helen and you will always be chasing _____ (insert your name).

Matthew McConaughey, in his 2014 Oscar winning speech, said it perfectly. There are three things he needs each day: something to look up to, something to look forward to and someone to chase. He looks up to God, he looks forward to his family.

Guess who he chases?

And to my hero. That’s who I chase. Now when I was 15 years old, I had a very important person in my life come to me and say “who’s your hero?” And I said, “I don’t know, I gotta think about that. Give me a couple of weeks.” I come back two weeks later, this person comes up and says “who’s your hero?” I said, “I thought about it. You know who it is? It’s me in 10 years.” So I turned 25. Ten years later, that same person comes to me and says, “So are you a hero?” And I was like, “not even close. No, no, no.” She said, “Why?” I said, “Because my hero’s me at 35.” So you see every day, every week, every month and every year of my life, my hero’s always 10 years away. I’m never gonna be my hero. I’m not gonna attain that. I know I’m not, and that’s just fine with me because that keeps me with somebody to keep chasing.

YES! That’s what I’m talking about.

This week, Chasing Helen celebrates 1 year! On March 8, 2017, I wrote my very first post about setting goals and chasing them down.

So here we are, a year later. Let me remind you – goals come in all shapes and sizes. We set short term goals and long term goals; goals we will chase for a few weeks and others we will chase for years.

EMBRACE THE CHASE

The chase is where you grow, learn new limits, discover courage, dedication, grit, your full potential.

This past weekend, I ran the Palmetto Bluff Half Marathon. A year ago, I ran the same race and wrote about Discovering Gratitude at the Palmetto Bluff Half. Last year, my goal was to win first place overall for the women (mainly to win a one night stay at the resort). I did not win first place. But I chased down a 6 minute PR of 1:29:05 and re-found a deep appreciation for my ability to run. This year, the  Palmetto Bluff Half Marathon delivered a gorgeous morning and another insightful lesson.

This run was dubbed my “training race” as I prepare for the Boston Marathon on April 16. I had two goals: 1) run a PR, which means beating 1:29:05, and 2) run a negative split, which means running the second half of the race faster than the first half. Coach-cousin Allen suggested this goal because I always start races way too fast and burn out towards the end. Due to some heart rate issues and an intense cramp around mile 8, I did not successfully run a negative split.

My PR? Ha… I clocked in this year at 1:29:07. Two seconds short.

What did I learn? Embrace the chase. The PR goal is still out there. The negative split goal, attainable, but hasn’t quite happened.

I am still chasing Helen. I’m always chasing Helen. I’ll never catch her. If I do chase down one of my goals, it just means a new one takes its place.

(Not a PR or a negative split, but placed first in my age group and had a complete BLAST!)

So I ask you, dear reader, are you embracing the chase? What goals have you set for tomorrow, this week, this year? Have you let some of them slide? You can jump back up and keep going at any time. All it takes is a decision and the will to move forward.

Instead of focusing on the goal, or the “end game,” embrace the chase. Let me know how it goes!

See you out there.

H//

PS. In addition to running the race, I spent a couple days in Savannah with my bff Anna Jones, her husband Wilson, sister, Lauren, brother-in-law, Ben and nieces, Ella Grace and Reece, oh, and of course, Birdie dog. I love them all. Here are a few pics from the weekend.