5. My Current Goal with Running

I want to run the 2028 Olympic Marathon Trials.

..or the 2032 Trials.

That’s really the only long term goal I have, at all. I know, that sounds ridiculous, at least to those with more of a background in running. But that’s what I’ve been saying to myself (and then a few confidants) since Spring 2020 when I first heard of the Trials. This is the first time I’m really saying it publicly.

The first time I had heard of the Trials, it was while I was reading some running article or headline claiming that the Olympic Marathon Trials was the easiest Olympic qualifying event that anyone could qualify for. That was my takeaway, at least. I’m struggling to find that article, or any at all, that carries the same message. By “easiest”, the article meant it was the easiest logistically. All you have to do is run a qualifying time to get a bib for the Olympic Marathon Trials. The top 3 of the Trials then go on to represent the US at the Olympics. I guess in other sports, an athlete might have to accumulate points over several events or rack up multiple victories to get to the Olympics. So to clarify, getting to the Marathon Trials isn’t necessarily easy; it just requires less steps than other Trials do. (I didn’t fact check any of this when I read it btw.)

But since 2020 I’ve clung on to that belief. For reference, the Trials qualifying time in 2020 was 2 hours and 19 minutes, an average pace of 5:18/mi. Now the standard is 2 hours and 18 minutes, average pace 5:15/mi.

I..cannot even run a single mile that fast. And I don’t have any objective evidence to suggest that I’ll be able to get that fast. Currently my fastest marathon time is 3:32:30, so I’ll have to shave off an hour and 15 minutes by 2028 to qualify. And that’s if the qualifying standard doesn’t get reduced again. Preposterous!

I’ve reflected on this goal a lot, and I’ve come up with an alternate way to frame it. More accurately the goal is: I want to be the best runner that I can be.

Attaching this goal to the Trials helps to time-bound this pursuit. Still early in my running career in 2020, I took on a mindset of “let’s aim for 2028 Olympic Trials and see how close we can get in the 8 years til then”. It’s now been three years since, and I don’t think I’m 3/8ths of the way there.. At the time, 8 years sounded like sufficient time to work hard at it and learn and grow a lot. The year 2028 also places me at the age of 32, and apparently that’s around when marathoners reach peak performance. Again, no real fact-checking here..I think I had heard this anecdotally and ran with it.

So it’s a moonshot! The whole Shoot for the moon; even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars thing. This leads to another approach I’ve taken on in parallel.

One of the first people I shared my goal of the 2028 Trials with was a mentor from work. Much older, much more experienced, he trained specifically for the triathlon. He’s an intense dude who centers his life on training. He built his house partially as a training compound. He’s serious, and I respect his perspective. Paraphrasing here a bit, his reaction upon hearing my goal was:

I’m jealous, either that you’re young enough to actually train for this goal seriously, or that you’re naive (he might’ve actually said “stupid”, affectionately) enough to aim for such a crazy goal. Do you even know if your body can run that fast, physiologically speaking?

“No.” HEhe.

You could train as hard and as long as you possibly can and realize you’re genetically/physically not capable of running that fast.

“Yup.”

And that’s the first time I heard of and considered physiological potential. Because he’s right. It takes a combination of hard work and genetic freakishness to run at a very high level. And in all likelihood, I may not have that second factor in my favor. But I won’t know til I try :) So that’s also what I want to find out: I want to realize my physiological potential. Hopefully I can align that with the year 2028, and fingers crossed + some miracle, maybe that’ll align with the qualifying time for Trials.

Right now I’m 5 years out, and I think this year is the mostly seriously I’ve taken running. Reflecting on the past 3 years, I’ve had a good amount of running experience and life experience that has helped to challenge and frame this crazy goal. It’s hard to gauge trajectory toward 2028, but I’m on a growth path and feeling more confident than ever in sticking with this goal. Let’s see how I do!

February 19, 2023 / Revised March 18, 2023