Goal (re)setting

I've said it a lot, but competing in Miss Virginia was a goal that I never thought I'd be able to have. Up until I competed at (and won) Miss Greater Springfield, I didn't think that it would be possible for me to succeed within the Miss America Organization because I thought that I didn't have the talent. I wasn't a singer or a dancer, and people always said that girls did monologues when they didn't have any other talent.

And so, as someone whose greatest gifts include public speaking, throwing a football, and running long distances not very fast, I didn't really look at Miss Virginia as something that was even within the realm of possibility for me to achieve.

Until I won Miss Greater Springfield. And watched Miss America 1968, where Miss America that year won with a monologue.

Anyways, I prefaced with all that to say: Competing at Miss Virginia was a Big, Fat, Obnoxiously Crazy Goal (all caps because it deserves that much respect). As in, I never dreamed in a million years I would have a shot at it, and then I did. And it was awesome.

But how do you bounce back from the goal achievement hangover? As in, what happens after you achieve  what was your biggest goal to date?

Obviously, by setting more goals.

YOLO (or something like that).

Yesterday, I signed up for the Ragnar Relay in October of this year. I'll be running for Girls on the Run and raising money for scholarships for deserving girls to take part in this awesome, inspiring, and life changing program. I am beyond excited, and (to be honest), a little scared (in an awesome way!).

Me and 11 other amazing women are going to be running nearly 200 miles of trails from Cumberland, Maryland to Washington, D.C. Each of us will have three legs, totaling anywhere from 13 to 25 miles over the course of two days. October is going to be my month of running -- Ragnar in the beginning, Marine Corps at the end.

My goal for the rest of 2013 is to concentrate on, as Thoreau put it, "living the life I have imagined." Adding more of what makes me come alive, and minimizing that which does the opposite. So I've signed up for Ragnar, I'm training for the MCM, and I even bought a domain and am going to focus on building my blog. I'm planning a baseball trip to Ohio to run a half marathon and knock two more baseball stadiums off my list.

Life is supposed to be about action: you're never going to find happiness, joy, excellence, or whatever it is you're searching for if you are passively living your life.

So here's to setting more goals. How are you being awesome today?