I started running (read: waddling perhaps?) when I weighed at least 30lbs more than I do now. I couldn’t run far and I certainly couldn’t run fast, but I liked the idea of one day being able to run a marathon…one day….

My first half marathon was a staggering 2:22 and I’m pretty certain that my first full marathon was slower than my Ironman marathon time. I joined run groups that would circle back to find me because I was just that slow. And week after week, I just kept running.

It’s been a few years now… and it hit me on Tuesday morning while Sus + I were prancing around the track trying to run slow enough to hold coaches orders of 7min/miles. Our casual canter has increased, significantly. What used to be our tempo runs have become our long run speed and speed work that used to be really hard has become more of a prance. Our long runs have become “just a Tuesday morning run” and best times seem slightly irrelevant …mostly because every long run is faster than my best 10km time!

Why does this matter? And why am i sharing this? Because on the brink of a new year when people are ferociously setting goals, my wish is that you have a coach/lover/dreamer on your shoulder telling you that you are capable of way more than you think you can! This year, it’s our crazy coach, affectionately known as Dr. Intensity. He has lofty expectations of how fast we should be able to run….and whether or not we run that fast, the mere fact that the seed of possibility has been planted most likely implies we don’t have a choice but to run, faster. Day after day, lofty doesn’t feel so lofty anymore. All it took was someone with more belief in our dream than our own to send our hearts pounding faster.

So dare I call myself a “runner”…that still feels ambitious. Yet what I know for sure is that I am a Dreamer of Big Dreams….and running fast might just be one of them!