New year's resolutions

I am not sure I set the correct title for today's post. I do have a lot of goals for 2015, but as it is the end of an incredible year for me, I cannot but take a moment to think back and contemplate.

2014 has been the year when I became acquainted with myself all over again. I have had experiences so out of this world, so unexpected and wonderful, that I still cannot completely believe that they have all actually taken place. I have discovered sides of me that I did not know existed, and I have seen that I am capable of many more things than I would ever have dreamed of, both physically and mentally. And all of this is just because I became passionate about running and competing. And it would only take a simple thing as signing up for Oslo half marathon at the beginning of the year, to ignite a passion which I did not know that I had.

Running and competing have now become a part of my life which I cannot imagine being without. Interestingly, the competitions are perhaps the most important ingredients in all this, at least for me. They give me motivation to train, goals to reach for, and an incredible feeling of accomplishment every single time. A competition does not only test physical strength but also mental strength and willpower. To keep pushing myself when it starts to become really painful is an experience which I could never have imagined that I would enjoy. Well, I don't really enjoy it while it is happening, but the feeling afterwards is unbelievable. I am so high after every race that I have problems sleeping the following night. In addition there is always some kind of festivity around each race where I meet friends and new people, and I get a chance to discuss with experts and learn new things every single time. Competitions are most fun when you participate with friends, though. In every competition I participated so far, I had at least one friend doing it with me. (If you join a group like Melkesyre, you are never short of friends to race with.)

For 2015 I have hopes of training more and smarter than in 2014. Sometime in the future, I even have a far fetched dream of taking some time off work to be able to rest enough to run and train even more. Train in the morning, sleep a few hours, and then train again in the afternoon or the evening. I am already doing something similar two days a week now, but only combining strength training in the very early morning before work with running in the evening after work (and no sleep in between). Of more realistic shorter term plans, I want to divide more of my runs into intervals, and do more long and really slow runs.

When I mention these things to people, I sometimes get questions of the type: What do you want? How far are you going to take this? It almost sounds like I should stop now. But I have only just begun! My goal is to become a better runner, meaning stronger and faster. I hope to be in such good shape that I can participate in a race with short notice, regardless of whether it is 5km, 21km, short uphill, or long uphill. And I want in every race to beat my previous time at that race, at least for several years to come. Then some people ask: Why? The answer is simple: because I think I can.

In 2013 I though I was at the top of my form and I did not believe it was possible to improve it further. 2014 has shown that everything is possible. I have read that a fresh runner can expect improvement for about seven years! So I feel that I have a lot of pleasures and new experiences to look forward to. When I have believed for many years that I am not cut for serious physical strain, it feels wonderful to see that I have been wrong all along. The same is true for many people I know, and perhaps it is true for you, too. If you have a dream, don't wait. Go for it!

I want to close the year by once more thanking everybody who has helped, inspired and motivated me on my way. All these wonderful people have been mentioned in previous posts, so I will not make a new list here. For you my friends, I just quote Afrojack and Wrabel, whose song has been a great inspiration to me this year, and gave the name to this blog:

You got me growing taller everyday
We're giants in a little man's world
My heart is pumping up so big that it could burst

You got me feeling like
I'm stepping on buildings, cars and boats
I swear I could touch the sky
I'm ten feet tall!

I'll put up a sign in the clouds
So they all know that we ain't ever coming down

You build me up
Make me what I never was
You build me up
From nothing into something

I'm ten feet tall!

(Click here to see the full lyrics and listen to the song)

Happy new year!