Setting Goals—The Ironman
Allen Johnson — 3 July 2005
Goals are an important part of life. Without goals,
people tend to just drift along, day-to-day, year-to-year
until all the sudden, they wonder where their life went.
Even as a child I set physical goals for myself and strive
to achieve them. The first goal I remember at age eight
was to walk all the way out to Kelly’s gravel pits three
miles north of Lawrenceville. My childhood friend, Gene
Highfill, and I wanted to camp overnight and swim in the pits.
My folks had always driven us out there before, but I wanted
to walk so we wouldn’t have to worry about meeting a
specific pick-up time the next day. After we walked
crossed the 10th Street Bridge, the dusty, gravel road to
the pits looked endless. I remember the great feeling
of satisfaction I had when Gene and I finally reached the
gravel pits and took a refreshing swim.
In Lincoln Junior High I remember setting a goal of
running a mile. I finished 3rd that spring in a mile
race. During the summer of 1948 my goal was to swim
a half-mile across the lake at the Wisconsin resort where
I worked. It never dawned on me that I might not make
it as I set out, with no support boat or companion, swam across
the lake and back to the resort.
After college I joined he Air Force and set a goal
of flying around the world. In the 1960s I chased a
recently launched Air Force communications satellite all the
way around the world in 13 days. In 1977 I decided to
try to complete a 26-mile marathon run. That year I
finished the Honolulu Marathon in four hours.
In 1980 my goal was to drive around communist Soviet
Union. After a year of intense planning and coordination,
my wife and I rented a car and drove 4,000 miles through Russia,
the Ukraine and Moldavia. In 1990 I set a goal of canoeing
500 miles down the Wabash River with my 10-year-old grandson.
We paddled a quarter-million strokes to complete the journey
in 16 days. Two years later I took my 9-year-old granddaughter
on a 600-mile bicycle ride from Southern Missouri to Dayton,
Ohio. We peddled 50-miles a day for 12 days to complete
that grand tour.
In 1996 I set my sights on a 50-mile run, the JFK-50, in
the Washington DC area. I trained for a year, running
a 26-mile marathon and a 50-K (32-mile) cross-country race
late in my training regiment. To get an idea of how
far 50 miles is, consider running from Dayton to Cincinnati,
Ohio or from Lawrenceville to Marshall or Flora, Illinois.
Just before dawn on a cool October morning I started running
with 200 other participants. A young Marine ran beside
me wearing army boots and carrying a 40-pound medical pack.
At the 5-mile marker he jogged ahead of me. A few miles
later I saw him beside the path bandaging the ankle of a fallen
runner. Thirty minutes later, the Marine passed me and
a little later I caught up to him again as he gave aid to
an overheated runner. I played tag with that Marine
all day long. At the 20-mile marker I settled into a
10-minute run, 2 minute walk pattern that I kept up for the
next 30 miles. About an hour after sunset I jogged into
town and crossed the finish line with a time of 12 hours.
The next year I talked my 11-year-old granddaughter into
rollerblading around Holland with me. We donned backpacks,
bike helmets, knee guards and starting skating from Amsterdam.
We followed the North Sea shoreline down to Belgium, cut up
through Antwerp and skated back to Amsterdam, a total of 400
miles in 16 day for an average of 25 miles a day.
As my 65th birthday approached I decided to try a 4,000-mile
bicycle ride up the Alaskan Highway and through the Yukon
Territory to the Arctic Circle. I started from Dayton,
Ohio and peddled 100-miles a day for 46 days to complete the
ride to Fairbanks, Alaska and on to the Arctic Circle.
So what goal can I select to celebrate my 70th birthday?
How about The Ironman—swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles
and run 26 miles? Since I didn’t qualify for the
officially sanctioned Ironman, I plan to set up my own modified
Ironman. I’ll attempt to complete the same swim,
bike and run distances in a 48-hour period, culminating with
the Honolulu Marathon in Hawaii on 11 December 2005.
To make it more interesting, I am soliciting pledges based
on miles completed from my friends for my favorite charity,
the Lawrence County Salvation Army. I will e-mail (or
snail-mail) progress of my training and Ironman stage completion
to everyone who pledges 10 cents a mile ($15 total) to the
Salvation Army. If you are interested in supporting
the Salvation Army, please
e-mail or snail-mail me (1040 Harvard Blvd; Dayton
OH 45406). Contributions should be made out to the Lawrence
County Salvation Army. Thanks, and may you achieve your
life’s goals.
End
Newsletter Archive:
70-year-old
Completes Ironman Challenge
Setting Goals—The
Ironman
Walking
Hadrian's Wall — Part 1
Walking
Hadrian's Wall — Part 2
Walking
Hadrian's Wall — Part 3
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