Achievable vs audacious goals
"Why not spend one single day doing something I’ll be proud of for the rest of my life?"
A few weeks ago I put out an article titled Failure is the foundation for success. In that article I posted about times when I set out to do something, failed, then eventually went on to achieve what I set out to do based on the experience I gained from the previous attempt.
In that article I mentioned my friend, who last year attempted to complete the audacious goal of a 100km ultramarathon on an island in Nagasaki Prefecture. He got to the 60km point last time and needed to retire after not meeting a cutoff time. On October 21st this year, he went back to the island for his second attempt at a more achievable goal in the 50km division (just so he could complete the ultra instead of DNFing it). He finished the event without any problems and told me that next time he’s going to go back to finally complete the 100km division.
This whole situation got me thinking about goals.
Achievable goals
When I was putting together this article I saw an “inspirational” quote from Dumb Runner.
The quote is humorous but there is some truth to it. If you set your goals so high that you can’t possibly achieve them then you are going to fail. It wouldn’t be a goal worth pursuing if actually set your goals so low they are easy to achieve, but it is important to set targets that challenge you to go beyond your current level, but not so beyond your level you can’t possibly complete them.
When I first started running I really wanted to be able to run a marathon. But I didn’t even think about entering a marathon until I proved to myself that I could comfortably run at least a half marathon. (Now I run half marathons as regular training runs).
Achievable goals allow you to challenge yourself without being crushed by the enormity of a goal that is out of your reach.
Audacious goals
A marathon is 42.195 km. An ultramarathon is any distance above that, but it’s pretty standard to consider races of 50 km and above ultramarathons. (If you run 43 km and call yourself an ultrarunner, you’re not wrong, but we can’t be friends). If you’ve run a marathon and want to give an ultra a try then a 50 km ultra is a pretty achievable goal. But if the furthest distance you’ve ever run in one go is 42.195 km, the greater distance ultramarathons start to look less achievable and more audacious.
The day I ran my first marathon was the first day I had run beyond a half marathon. I went from 21.0975 km as a personal best for distance to 42.195 km in one go. Later on that year I went from 42.195 km to 70 km by running my first ultra. Both of these were pretty audacious goals, though I would argue that jumping from a half marathon to a full marathon was a more audacious goal than jumping from 42.195 km to 70 km.
When you are setting audacious goals I think there is an element of it being high risk/high reward. Less than 1% of the population of the world have run a marathon, but I know quite a lot of marathon runners. Many of those marathon runners think ultras are crazy. Personally, I get a kick out of being uncommon amongst uncommon people, which fuels me to climb to greater and greater heights.
Audacious goals allow you to go above and beyond what you thought was possible. Maybe you’ll achieve it, maybe you won’t. But to quote Bruce Lee once again:
“Don't fear failure...in great attempts it is glorious even to fail.”
―Bruce Lee
Setting goals
I have heard a number of talks by Dr. Jordan Peterson on how to set and achieve goals. (Disclaimer: I know that Dr. Peterson is a somewhat divisive character to some people.).
I watched a clip recently on a talk Dr. Peterson did on goal setting (I’ll summarize what was said from the 6 minute mark). Setting a high aim (an audacious goal), but differentiating it down so you know what the next step is, and making that step difficult enough so you have to push yourself past where you are (an achievable goal), but providing yourself with a reasonable probability of success is a good way to achieve your ultimate goals.
When I started running it didn’t take me long before I thought I’d like to do an ultramarathon some day. I went from an absolute beginner runner to running a marathon as my first event. My next step after that was my 70km ultramarathon. Step 1. Start running, Step 2. Marathon, Step 3. Ultramarathon, is pretty ridiculous, but for me, those goals were achievable and I had the appropriate number of steps to get there.
I’ve run ultramarathons since running 70 km, but I still haven’t broken 100 km yet. Which brings us to the next section.
The next lofty goal
One of my favorite areas to travel in Japan is the Fuji Five Lakes area. There are five lakes just next to Mt. Fuji called Kawaguchiko, Yamanakako, Saiko, Shojiko and Motosuko. I’ve been to this area in summer, autumn, and winter and the views are always absolutely stunning.
There is an ultramarathon in the area called the Challenge Fuji 5 Lakes Ultramarathon (website here). The next one will be held on April 21st, 2024.
There are three courses for this ultramarathon with different levels of difficulty:
Fuji 3 Lakes : 62 km (I’ve run beyond this before)
Fuji 4 Lakes : 100 km (I still haven’t broken 100 yet, but it looks achievable)
Fuji 5 Lakes : 118 km (definitely an audacious goal)
Below is a map of the course (Japanese only):
I recently put up a poll on Twitter(X) about this event just to see how my audience would react to this race.
Although the achievable goal option came out on top of the poll… I wasn’t using the poll as a decision making tool. I just wanted to see what people thought.
Entry opened on October 20th at 18:00 and by 18:07 I put in my entry to the 118 km division without hesitation.
There is a certain logic to entering the 118 km division.
If I run 71 km, that will be a new personal best.
Although I’d like a medal for the race, getting a medal isn’t my goal. If I hit 100 km then DNF before hitting 118 km I would still have run 100 km. (I don’t need a medal to run 100 km. My first marathon and my first ultra didn’t give out medals).
I wouldn’t be satisfied to enter the Fuji Five Lakes Ultramarathon unless I was running around all five of the lakes.
This is a way for me to complete this ultramarathon in one swoop, finishing all the challenges in one go. That I can set a new goal after this one without revisiting the same race. (There are lots of ultramarathons hosted by this race organizer. All of them look amazing).
If I enter the 118 km division it will be the most difficult challenge, but the one with the most payoff.
Audacious goal set. I’m looking forward to giving it my all.
Final thoughts
“We can make any obstacle as big or small as we like. It’s all in the way we frame it. Going into Leadville, I expected one long, hard, motherfucking day. But how many inconsequential days had I lived by then? Why not spend one single day doing something I’ll be proud of for the rest of my life?”
―David Goggins (from his book, Never Finished)
I’m going all in on this one. I set audacious goals in the past, which turned out to be achievable. It’s not like I’m going from zero to 100. It’s more like zero, to 42.195, to 70, to 118.
Please look forward to my updates on how my training is going for this in the near future. I already have two marathons and a 10 mile race in my calendar before this. I have a Buy Me a Coffee page (link here) and a PayPal page (link here) if you feel like dropping in a small donation for race fees/transport/accommodation. I’ll be doing this regardless. (I’m self funded. Any donations that come my way will go to this race or to my sword fund).
Regardless of any sort of financial support, I really appreciate it when people enjoy my articles. The number of reads going up gives me the inspiration to keep writing. Keep on being awesome.
Up for a challenge?
Coming to Japan to run this ultra is a daunting task. However, if you are interested in running this ultra, please note that I will be there and I’m happy to provide advice on logistics. (I don’t mind running with people but I ain’t carrying anyone). If you are interested please drop me a line. See you at the start line on April 21st, 2024. Osu!
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Osu!
Anthony
About the cover
This picture is titled Under the Mannen Bridge at Fukagawa. It is a woodblock print by Katsushika Hokusai produced between 1830 to 1832. The Challenge Fuji Five Lakes Ultramarathon is using an adapted version of this painting as the representative picture for this years ultra. The version I used here is the Open Access full version available here.